Brown leaps in to Irish team for European Indoors in Italy

ATHLETICS NEWS:ZOE BROWN will make a piece of Irish athletics history when she competes in the European Indoor Championships in Turin inside the next two weeks.

Brown (25), will become the first Irish woman pole vaulter to compete in the championships, having achieved the qualifying standard with a clearance of 4.20 metres at the Celtic Cup in Cardiff over the weekend.

She is now expected to be added to the Irish team.

The leap smashed Brown’s Irish record of 4.05 metres set in Sheffield the previous week, and was the third successive week the Ballymena athlete set new figures, having become the first Irish woman to clear 4.0 metres when she won the Irish title in Belfast.

Niamh Whelan clocked a personal best of 7.49 seconds in the 60 metres.

The countdown to Turin next month continued at pace at a high-class Grand Prix in Birmingham over the weekend, with Britain producing a potentially new sprint star in Simon Williamson, while Mo Farah looks a hot shot to win the 3,000 metres after breaking the British record with a fast 7:34.47.

The meeting did not, however, throw any inspiring light on the European prospects of either Paul Hession or Derval O’Rourke. Hession was eliminated in the heats of the 60 metres, fifth in 6.70 seconds, which was some way short of the 6.61 national record he set when he reached the European final two years ago.

O’Rourke’s 60 metres hurdles challenge was a straight final, but again she struggled to find that ’06, world-beating form (7.84 seconds), finishing sixth in 8.13 seconds, slower too on her seasonal best of 8.06.

O’Rourke’s draw on the outside did not help, but she was still bang in contention before fading over the last two flights.

Now both must try to remain positive in the lead-up to Turin.

Linda Byrne gave home supporters something to cheer about at the 40th Rás na hÉireann in Oldbridge, Co Louth, yesterday when the 22-year-old Dundrum runner won a exciting race from Jenn Donovan of the US, with another home runner, Kerry Harty, third.

Byrne raced away from Donovan over the closing stages to win by three seconds in 13:45, with the pair breaking away from Harty on the firm surface.

Poland’s Artur Kozlowski proved too strong for his opponents, especially on the hill, when he won the men’s event impressively in 17:56 from David Nightingale of the US with Jussi Utrainen of Finland third.

Then came the local hero, Keith Kelly, who ran a creditable race to finish fourth in 18:07, with Mark Carroll fifth in 18:12.