HIGHLIGHT: John Travers and Aoife Lynch competed in the Athletics Ireland Elite Micro Meet, with the former running inside the qualifying standards for the forthcoming European Indoor Championships.

REPORT: John Travers won a compelling 3,000m race at the Athletics Ireland Elite Micro Meet at the National Indoor Arena on Saturday evening. The event which got Government approval via the Sports Ireland Expert Group gave athletes the opportunity to make the qualifying standards for the European Indoor Championship due to take place at Torun, Poland on the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th March.

With 5 elite athletes and a pacemaker the 3,000m race was always going to be full of intrigue. The opening laps saw Hiko Tonoso of DSD AC and Conor Bradley of City of Derry AC track Jonny Whan (Clonliffe Harriers) the pacer, with John Travers tucked in 4^th position. The 800m mark was reached in 2.05 and the mile marker in 4.11/12. At that point it was Tonoso in the lead, followed by Travers, Daragh McIlhenny of UCD AC and then Bradley.

The same order was maintained as the race passed the 2,400m (12 of 15 laps) mark in 6.21, with the leading 4 athletes all in very close order. As the race entered to the penultimate lap, reached in 6.54, Travers took over the lead and opened a gap of three metres on his main rival McIlhenny. The two leaders reached the bell in 7.22. In the burn-up over the last lap Travers withheld the challenge of the Cork man to win in a time of 7.50.40 – more than 5 seconds inside his previous Indoor PB and well inside the European qualifying standard of 7.58.50. McIlhenny, who edged out Travers in the National Senior 5,000m final in 2020, was 2^nd in 7.50.80, with Bradley 3^rd in 7.53.70, Tonoso 4^th in 7.53.79 and Michael Power of West Waterford AC in 5^th in 8.06.88.

Travers gave reference to his coach Jerry Kiernan, the 1984 Olympic Marathoner, who sadly passed away last month afterwards: “I’m absolutely delighted with that performance as emotions were high. Fastest time I’ve ever run indoors and way under the European standard. Delighted I could pull myself together and get in a very solid run after a very tough month. It’s one box ticked that myself and Jerry (Kiernan) had planned for this year, so hopefully I can tick the other boxes also throughout the year”.

The Donore Harriers star athlete was back on the track in Sunday’s 1,500m race. “It was a case of taking the opportunity to get in an extra race and it’s good practice in case I need to go through qualifying rounds at the European Indoors” he explained. There were just 3 competitors and a pacemaker. The first 800m saw pacer Kevin Woods of Crusaders AC at the front, followed by Luke McCann of UCD AC, Jonny Whan of Clonliffe Harriers and then Travers. With 3 laps to go the pacer stepped off the track and Travers moved ahead of Whan into 2nd. At the bell (1,300m mark), with the timer at 3.11, it was McCann with a lead of about 10 metres over Travers. However, with a race in his legs from the previous evening the Donore Harriers athlete was unable to bridge the gap to McCann over the final lap. McCann won in a PB of 3.40.0,3 with Travers 2^nd in 3.41.74 and Whan 3^rd in 3.49.93. Travers’ time was inside the European Indoor qualifying standard of 3.42.75.

Sprinter Aoife Lynch accepted a late call-up to compete in the event. She certainly justified her place with two fine runs in Sunday’s 60m races. In the first sprint she made an excellent start out of the blocks and held good form to finish 4^th in a new personal best time of 7.55. One hour later the same group of six athletes toed the line for Race 2. This time Lynch had a slightly slower pick-up from the blocks but sprinted strongly to the line to place 5^th in 7.60. Both races were won by Molly Scott of St. Laurence O’Toole AC in times of 7.36 and 7.37, with Joan Healy of Leevale AC (7.42 twice) in 2^nd.

Lynch, who is now working under the coaching guidance of Daniel Kilgallon, had a similar fate as John Travers in that she lost her long-term and trusted coach John Geoghegan, who sadly passed away last November. John would have been very proud of her continued progress.

RESULTS IN BRIEF:

Athletics Ireland Irish Life Micro Indoor Meet at NIA, Abbotstown (20&21.02.2021)

Men’s 3,000m – 1^st John Travers (7.50.40 indoor PB)

Men’s 1,500m – 2^nd John Travers (3.41.74)

Women’s 60m Race 1 – 4^th Aoife Lynch (6.55 PB)

Women’s 60m Race 2 – 5^th Aoife Lynch (6.60)