Athletics: Tomorrow evening, St Malachy's College, Belfast will attempt to add to their unique record of three distance medley relay titles in the Penn Relays Carnival in Philadelphia.
Despite their record in the event, St Malachy's will face stiff competition from favourites South Lakes, Virginia who boast Alan Webb, the holder of the All-American Sophomore-year record for the mile which he set last year in a time of four minutes 6.94 seconds as their anchor-leg runner.
St Malachy's will be looking to Irish schools' champion Conor Sweeney to anchor their side in the 1600-metres leg, while the rest of the team is likely to be Tom Frazer in the 1200-metre lead-off leg, followed by Francis McCaffrey who will run the 400metre leg, with Dominic McAllister or John Frazer in the 800-metre leg.
Motorcycling: Former world champion Mick Doohan has given his backing to radical changes designed to open up 500cc grand prix motorcycling to bigger bikes. "It's time for a change after 20 years of twostroke hegemony," he said, reacting to changes announced by the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM).
The FIM said this month that four-stroke prototype bikes, with an engine capacity of up to 990cc, would be allowed experimentally into the top grand prix category from 2002.
Grand prix organisers Dorna yesterday hailed the decision as the start of a "new era of motorcycle racing".
"We can't express anything else but satisfaction with this new situation," said Dorna managing director Carmelo Ezpeleta. "We think that this new era starting in 2002 will mean the definitive step forward for our sport."
Hockey: Instonians, hosts for the European club championship (B division) in Belfast from June 9th-12th, will tune up for the tournament with a 40th anniversary match against an Irish President's XI at Upper Malone on May 13th.
