Mark Smyth landed the national 200 metre gold medal in a blustery Santry stadium.
Smyth powered off the bend to secure his second senior national title, first outdoors clocking 21.95 seconds well clear of Galway City Harriers Andrew Egan in 22.44.
The athlete’s raced into a headwind of 6.5 metres per second. Power and tactics would be the winner on such a dreadful day for sprinting with Smyth totally in command.
This was Smyth’s second national senior title having won indoor gold back in 2020. The first outdoor sprint title claimed by the club since Jamie Davis shock 100 metre win in 2014.
A brilliant win by Mark Smyth (Raheny Shamrock) into a massive -6.5 m/s wind 👏🥇
🥈Andrew Egan (Galway City Harriers)
🥉Luke Morris (Emerald)Watch all the action live 🎥 https://t.co/aidjA6fjFX#150thEdition #NationalSeniors pic.twitter.com/9D6ZzyuFHG
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) June 25, 2022
Meanwhile, Eric Favors took silver in the shot with a best of 18.74 metres achieved on his second throw. The gold went to John Kelly of Finn Valley who set a championship record with a best of 19 metres 25 cm on his first effort.
There was heartbreak for Colm Bourke as he finished fourth in long jump with a best of 7.21m just three centimetres off bronze.
Bronze went to Moycarkey Coolcroo’s Daniel Ryan. Gold went to Leevale’s Sam Healy in 7.54m with silver going to Shane Howard 7.51m.
While Niamh McCorry took sixth place in the shot put with a best of 10.96m. Gold went to Michaela Walsh with a best of 14.58m.
There were good performances on the track with a number of athlete’s making their way through the heats and semi-finals into Sunday’s finals.
In the 400 metres Sophie Becker won heat two in 54.67 seconds. While Brandon Arrey took second place in the men’s event heat one. The time of 48.75 seconds saw Arrey qualify with a small q for tomorrow’s final.
Niamh Kearney advanced to the 1500 metre final taking second place in heat two in 4:36.37. While in the men’s event Juan Ignacio Pena progressed to the final taking third place in heat two in 3:59.03.
Iseult O’Donnell took fourth place in heat one of the 800m in 2:15.16 safely progressing into the 800m final.
There were good performances throughout the day. Hannah Byrne took fourth place in heat three of the 200m in 27.20 seconds. While Susie O’Flynn was sixth in heat two of the 800 metres in 2:19.92
Luke Murphy also competed well finishing fourth in heat one of the 800m posting 1:58.96, not enough to progress but a very strong performance.
The action gets underway at 2pm in Morton Stadium Santry tomorrow with a host of Shamrock’s chasing national championship medals. The place to be on Sunday.
