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National Senior Gold For Hannon And Kennedy

Thursday, 15 July 2010

Tullamore Harriers athlete Mary Daly with her European bronze medal after competing in Athlone European Age Group Triathlon Championships recently

GORDON Kennedy and Eoin Hannon gave Tullamore Harriers one of their great days at the National Senior Athletic Championships when they added their names to the national roll of honour in Santry at the weekend. Gordon won the 400m title while Eoin was victorious in the long jump.
Eoin added the long jump title to the indoor one that he won earlier this year when he jumped out to 7.30m in the third round of the competition. Given that Eoin was injured at the European cup in Budapest 4 weeks ago, and had been unable to train for three weeks, it was a fantastic victory and establishes him as the undisputed no. 1 long jumper in Ireland. Eoin had to endure a tense last two rounds as the Leevale, Mid Ulster and Donore athletes attempted to rein him in, but they all came up short and Eoin was declared National Champion for 2010.This was Eoin's first National Senior outdoor title and in the circumstances a great one to win.
Eoin's early win set the tone for what was to unfold in the afternoon. Gordon Kennedy had travelled to Germany on Friday morning to race in the Dusseldorf open in an attempt to get the standard for the 400m in the upcoming European Athletic Championships. Despite running a great race in a time of 46.89 Gordon was .14 outside the required time. He flew to Dublin on Saturday morning and having rested for two hours began his quest for a national title running in the heats of the 400m Saturday afternoon. Gordon ran a very controlled heat to win in a time of 47.94.
The final on Sunday was acknowledged by everyone as the race of the day. Gordon ran a great first 300m to give him self a 3 metre lead coming into the home straight. The defending champion, Brian Gregan and Brian Murphy, who had run a PB of 46.89 the previous week, launched their attack in the home straight, but in a titanic finish Gordon dug deep and as he crossed the finish line to win the 400m title the clock stopped at 46.57, .2 inside the qualifying standard for Barcelona. So not only had Gordon regained the National 400 metre title he last won in 2008 but he also qualified to run in the upcoming European athletics championships in Barcelona much to the delight of all the Tullamore Harriers supporters present.
While Eoin and Gordon had their day of glory on a warm July day it was through the depths of the coldest winter and spring for years that the seeds of this great day were sown. This is when the hard work was done under the watchful eye of their dedicated coaches, Nick Hannon and Frank Brennan and great credit must go to this coaching duo for their input that led to this national success.
There were other good performances from Harriers athletes at the weekend. Alan Whelan finished 4th in his heat of the 400m in a time of 50.28 and 5th in his heat of the 100m in a time of 11.28. Daragh Hanlon finished 5th in the Discus with a throw of 37.25m and Larry O Reilly finished 7th in the long jump with a best jump of 6.2m. Well done to all the athletes on a great week end for the Harriers and congratulations to our training partner Fiona Hill who jumped a great new PB of 11.11m in the ladies triple jump to win bronze, her first national senior medal.
The club wishes the best of luck to Ger Hensey and Catch Grennan who are heading off shortly to Hungary to compete in the European masters track and field championships.
Fixtures.
July 18th : National League Round 2. ( Athlone).
July 23rd Friday at 7pm. Offaly County Track and Field Championships.
July 30th : Daingean 5k Road Race at 8.00 pm.
July 31st : National combined events championships, Tullamore.
August 14th : National League Final, Tullamore..
August 15th : National Masters Track and Field, Tullamore.
September 5th : Gowran 8 at 10.00 am.
September 19th : Neville 10 at 10.00 am.
Training: Tuesday and Thursday at 6.30pm, Sunday morning at 8.30am Except on a race day. New members always welcome.

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