Galway athletes produced top-class performances at the Woodie’s DIY Senior Track and Field Championships in Morton Stadium Santry at the weekend.
Headlining the action was Olympian Paul Hession who stormed to victory in the men’s 100m - his final race in Ireland before taking part in the London Olympics.
The race was one of the most exciting of the day with Jason Smyth (City of Derry AC ) getting a fantastic start. However the Athenry AC sprinter came through strongly to take his fifth national title in a season’s best of 10.37 (wind+1 ). Smyth finished in 10.38 and Steven Colvert (Crusaders AC ), who had a poor start, came through to finish third in 10.59.
Speaking after the race Hession, who is targetting the 200m at the Olympic Games in London, said: “It is great to win the title, in better conditions I think I could have run 10.2. I will probably race in Italy this week and I will then do some final training ahead of the Olympics. ”
Sean Breathnach (Galway City Harriers AC ) won the men’s shot putt with a throw of 15.85m. It was a close contest with Dublin’s Thomas Rauktys taking the silver with a distance of 15.78m. It was a busy weekend for Breathnach as he returned the following day to capture the silver medal in the weight for distance event, throwing 46.45m, and took bronze in the 56lb height (3.85m ).
Craughwell AC’s Maeve Curley was another Galway athlete on the podium with an impressive win in the women’s 5,000m walk in a time of 24:41.0 - her first national senior title.
“I am delighted with winning my first senior title,” said Curley, “ and it’s a great way to start my career as a senior athlete. I wasn't completely happy with my time and would have liked to be faster. However after the 10km race two weeks ago in Switzerland when I got a big PB, I can't complain."
Another Olympian with a Galway connection is Stephanie Reilly of Sli Cualann who ran in the 1500m. She was fourth on this occasion in 4.21 but will run in the 3000m Olympic Steeplechase next month.
The other results from Galway athletes were Keith Fallon (GCH ) who was 10th in the 800m in 1.57, Anthony Hebron (GCH ) sixth in the 400m in 58s, Peadar Harvey (Craughwell ) sixth in the 3000m in 9.29, and Sarah Finnegan (Craughwell ) who was fourth in the women’s triple jump in 10.13.
