O'Rourke anxious for good run in Belfast

ATHLETICS: NOT SINCE her World Championships winning season of four years ago has Derval O'Rourke sounded more excited about the start of her indoor campaign – the good news being it coincides with another World Championships, in Doha, Qatar from March 12-14th.

That’s not actually too far away, which explains why O’Rourke is anxious for a good performance at this weekend’s National Indoor Championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

It’s a slightly later start than usual, the main reason being O’Rourke was carrying a minor calf muscle strain for the most of January. It prevented her from doing any fast track sessions but she more than made up for it in the gym, and won’t be lacking too much fitness when lining up for her first 60 metres hurdles of the season.

“I’m going into this weekend with just one serious track and hurdles session behind me,” says O’Rourke, “but to be honest, I’m just thrilled to be pain free and looking forward to Sunday.

“I know it’s going to feel fast because it will be my first race since last summer. But really things were going extremely well since after the World Championships in Berlin, before the injury came on, around mid-December. Eventually I was left with no choice but to take a complete break from all running, and thankfully it completely healed towards the end of last month.”

O’Rourke would be well happy with a time around eight seconds flat, as she builds towards the 7.84 seconds that won her the World Indoor title in Moscow in 2006. She won European Indoor bronze last year in 7.97 seconds – and looks to have carried on the momentum and confidence gained from finishing fourth over the 100 metres hurdles at the World Championships in Berlin last August in an Irish record of 12.67 seconds.

Olive Loughnane, who won silver in the 20km walk in Berlin, was set to compete over the shorter 3km event in Belfast, but has had to withdraw due to a trapped nerve in her back: “It would just be too risky to compete, moreover in such a speed event on a tight indoor track, and it was the most sensible option in the circumstances to withdraw.

“This is a big year coming up with the European Championships and I just could not risk doing serious damage. This is the time of year when you do the hard, basic training and by not competing this weekend it means that I can resume my heavy training very soon.”

Indeed those European Championships, in Barcelona in July, do make a big year for several more Irish athletes, including Paul Hession. He runs the 60 metres in Belfast this weekend, but with no 200 metres at World Championship level indoors, his indoor season will be brief, as he aims solely to peak outdoors.

David Gillick, who is considering the 400 metres at the World Indoors, is not competing, which should clear the way for Brian Gregan to underline his progress, which saw him improve his indoor best to 47.67 last weekend.

Kelly Proper, who last month improved her Irish indoor long jump record to 6.62 metres, has already qualified for Doha, as has David McCarthy in the 800 metres with his 1:48.29 in Vienna on Tuesday night.

Ciara Mageean of nearby Lisburn AC, still only 17, is also sure to excite in the women’s 800 metres.