Outstanding displays at national finals

MEATH athletes gave sparkling performances to match the weather at the ESB National Athletics League final at Tullamore on Sunday. Both squads had performed very well in the previous two rounds and were bolstered for the final by athletes who returned from studying and working abroad. The women"s team was well balanced across most of the disciplines and this was a big factor in helping them achieve an impressive 87 points. That was enough to put them in third place in Div 1 behind the overall winners Ballymena & Antrim AC on 114 and North Down AC who scored 110. The top achievers for the Meath side included Karen Healy whose double success in the hammer and discus earned 18 points with national high jump champion Rosemary Daniel also making a big contribution. In the late afternoon a great 800m run by Sara Treacy delivered another nine points. The men"s team set out to consolidate their position in the Premier Division. In previous rounds their main strength was in field events. The Meath cause was enhanced in this year"s final by bonus performances on the track from Andrew Ledwith and Dunboyne AC"s Rory McDonnell. The team finished the day in fourth place behind Clonliffe, North Down and Shercock, Cavan. The first track victory of the day for Meath was in the 3km walk. Tara AC walker Michael Doyle held off a determined effort by Paul Fizpatrick of Shercock to win in a time of 12 minutes 30 seconds. Mark Hanily put recent injuries behind him to launch the hammer out to 54.87m in the third round. Five of his six hammer throws landed beyond the 54 metre mark. Ironically the only man to throw further than him was former Dunboyne athlete Padraig White. Another thrower to make it to a podium position was Ger Nagle from Star of the Sea AC. His first round throw of 43.11 was 20cm short of Jeremy Harper with the top points going to Pavel Hazle (Leevale). In the steeplechase there was a very determined run by McDonnell. The former junior international hill runner grew in confidence as the race progressed and gave everything to catch his experienced Clonliffe rival. The men"s high jump proved to be a real ding-dong battle for points between Kourosh Foroughi, Brian Flatley and Brendan Dennehy. In the end Foroughi won with a clearance of 2.0m to collect another maximum points total. In the women"s hammer Healy was well ahead of the opposition with her 39.55m throw which was six metres better than her nearest rival. She completed a very valuable double by winning the discus. The Meath effort in both the men"s and women"s competitions this year was greatly helped by the availability of two of the most exciting distance runners in the country. Sara Treacy from Moynalvey / Kilcloon AC and Fr Murphy AC"s Ledwith distinguished themselves earlier this year when finishing their respective races at the World Cross Country championships as the best Irish performers. Treacy recently took part in the 1500m at the World Junior championships in Poland and was sixth in a bruising final over the same distance at the National championships. She continued her good form at Tullamore last weekend when she won the 800m in a time of two minutes 12 seconds. Ledwith, who is a student at Iona University in New York, ran 15.02 at Tullamore to claim runners-up spot in the 5,000m behind Clonliffe Harriers" athlete Mark Kenneally. Mary Hanley recorded her best time for a track 3000m event with her 10.03m run earning her second place behind a Ballymena & Antrim athlete. Earlier in the afternoon her sister Bridget Clarke also set a season"s best time when finishing fourth in a very keenly contested 1500m. Enfield high jumper Rosemary Daniel rounded off a great week with a leap of 1.71m sealing victory in the high jump. Club colleague Jenny Reilly continued her progress in her new event, the triple jump. The Na Fianna athlete put in an excellent series of jumps to take second place with her best effort, 10.85m, achieved in the first round. She doubled up in the 100m hurdles and secured valuable points when finishing a gallant fourth. Doireann Meade set a new personal best in the long jump with a leap of 5.22m to finish in third place. The good run of results achieved by Star of the Sea athletes continued in the late afternoon with Ger Nagle throwing 12.68m to achieve second place in the shot putt. The other Meath results included Elaine Plunkett securing fifth in the 400m (63.18 seconds), Michelle Pilkington eighth in the javelin, Pam Reynolds seventh in the 1500m walk and Sophie Kennedy who was sixth in the 200m (28.47 seconds), Keith Doherty fourth in the pole vault, Kourosh Fouroghi fifth in the javelin (45.37m), David Tobin fifth in the long jump (6.26m), Turloch Grant fifth in the 400m (51.37), Feilibh O Cinneide sixth in the 200m (23.21), Darren Vahey sixth in the triple jump (11.31m), Dermot Smith seventh in the 100m (11.43), Morgan McDonagh sixth in the 1500m (4.13) and Daniel Treacy seventh in the 800m (1.58). The womens 4x400m relay race saw the Meath squad of Sara Treacy, Elaine Plunkett, Leah Rennicks, and Sharon Monaghan combine well to record a time of four minutes 12 seconds. In the mens 4x400m the team of Feilibh O Cinneide, Niall Matthews, Turloch Grant and Jason Tango ran three minutes 30s seconds to finish sixth. Earlier the 4x100 quartet of Podge Duffy, Jason Tango, David Tobin and Dermot Smith finished sixth and the women"s team of Doireann Meade, Sophie Kennedy, Sinead O"Kane and Michelle Smith had a similar result. At the Balla 10km road race on saturday evening Dunshaughlin"s Robbie Matthews continued his winning ways down in Mayo with victory. Matthews pulled away at the 4km point to win comfortably in a time of 32.53 which put him over 30 seconds clear of the defending champion Robert Malseed,