Outdoor Track and Field Championships 2010

ecoli

Surprised that there aint more discussion on this being the eve of the competition.

Some exciting prospective races one the cards.

400m should be a great race despite Gillick opting for the 100m there will be close competition with Gregan seeming to have stalled a little in terms of performances opening it up a bit more to Kennedy and Murphy who have been in good form of late

The 5k also should be a great show with O Neill and Sweeney recently running sub 8 for 3k along with Christie if he runs and Connolly who is running on Sat night in Heusden however he will come into the equation if it becomes a tactical affair

100 should be a good one with Smyth's form this year may put it up to Hession who is coming off a great 200m in Lausanne

myflipflops

I think one issue with getting excited about Nationals these days is that guessing who will run what event is such a lottery!! My other main issue is that I'm not in the country to attend thus missing my first one in 9 years I think.

thirtyfoot

Best weekend of the year in Irish athletics.

I am looking forward to the following as these will be the most competitive and have the most quality.

Mens 100 - will Hession race against Smyth and who will win?
Womens 100 - this will be the race that means most (along with Mens 400) as relay slots on offer. Will Foster come out on top, McSweeney, Proper, Whelan, Brady. Will be the race of the weekend if they are all running.
Mens 400 - two spots on offer. Grego has the time, Kennedy and Murphy are close. If they all run the time on Sunday, it could be the first 2 who go with Gillick.
Womens 400H - the only race that will have 3 Euro qualified athletes. Kinney, Carey, Furlong. Will be a belter. The experience of Carey may shine through.
Mens 800/1500 - Will Chamney do 1500 and if so will Cragg be in that too. No Campbell so the head to head element is gone. Chamney should win whichever one he chooses.
Womens 800 - Will Mageean race and if so will she beat Galligan?

Weather to be brutal on Saturday but pick up on Sunday. Will be a great weekend of the best part of athletics, can't wait.

ecoli

Tingle wrote: »

Best weekend of the year in Irish athletics.

I am looking forward to the following as these will be the most competitive and have the most quality.

Mens 100 - will Hession race against Smyth and who will win?
Womens 100 - this will be the race that means most (along with Mens 400) as relay slots on offer. Will Foster come out on top, McSweeney, Proper, Whelan, Brady. Will be the race of the weekend if they are all running.
Mens 400 - two spots on offer. Grego has the time, Kennedy and Murphy are close. If they all run the time on Sunday, it could be the first 2 who go with Gillick.
Womens 400H - the only race that will have 3 Euro qualified athletes. Kinney, Carey, Furlong. Will be a belter. The experience of Carey may shine through.
Mens 800/1500 - Will Chamney do 1500 and if so will Cragg be in that too. No Campbell so the head to head element is gone. Chamney should win whichever one he chooses.
Womens 800 - Will Mageean race and if so will she beat Galligan?

Weather to be brutal on Saturday but pick up on Sunday. Will be a great weekend of the best part of athletics, can't wait.

Think Chamney has been talking bout doing the eight. Also Cragg down for the diamond league so he could be a no show depending on whether he has to run. Pity alot of people in Solihull and other meets kinda takes away from what could be some top quality races but still should be a great weekend

wgtomblin

I'm really looking forward to the weekend of athletics... esp the Men's 400, a hard one to call, the 10,000 which looks like it could be a proper close battle this year, and the Men's 800 & 1500. Will also be checking out Ireland's newest pole vaulter (women)!

Rineanna

National Junior Record for Kate Veale in the 5000m Walk to win her first National Senior title. Olive Loughnane had to pull out as an injury precaution.

Kelly Proper won the LJ with 6.35m.

http://twitter.com/irishathletics

Mr_Curious

Hi - if anyone has any results of heats or finals from Saturday's and Sunday's All Ireland T&F in Santry POST THEM HERE!

Any News of records being broken etc - Post them too

I cant make it to Dublin this year and cant find updates anywhere

Mr_Curious

Rineanna

The twitter link I posted above has updates.

Tori Pena breaks the Irish National Pole Vault record, with 4.15m. Great stuff, and a great start to the weekend of athletics.

Mr_Curious

Mr_Curious wrote: »

Hi - if anyone has any results of heats or finals from Saturday's and Sunday's All Ireland T&F in Santry POST THEM HERE!

Any News of records being broken etc - Post them too

I cant make it to Dublin this year and cant find updates anywhere

Mr_Curious

@ the moderators - Thanks for moving my post - I'm so tick - forgot about twitter 'Doh!

Mr_Curious

I hear the conditions are pretty bad in Santry - Anybody been there today?

Niamh Whelan and Kelly Proper 200 m - you cant get closer than this - both times 23.68

ecoli

Hesh with solid win in 20.77. S. Colvert 2nd 21.41 and D.Graham 3rd 21.58 the wind was -0.9 so a good run from him

Rineanna

Mens 10,000m results: 1. Gary Thornton (29.18.88), 2. Brian Maher (30.03.50) and 3. Joe McAlister (30.07.69)

Milesandmiles

Who won athlete of the meet?

ecoli

Milesandmiles wrote: »

Who won athlete of the meet?

Hession as far as i know??

Rineanna

ecoli wrote: »

Hession as far as i know??

If we're talking about that Hungarian tables, €1000 prize thing, then it was Rob Heffernan.

myflipflops

ecoli wrote: »

Hession as far as i know??

The Twitter updates said Rob Heffernan was in the lead for it. I haven't seen anything confirmed though

Giants Causeway

There were some great performances over the past two days - I have to say the highlight for me was Gordan Kennedy in the 400m. The Tullamore man was superb and showed great determination to hold off the efforts of Brian Gregan.

Chamney was also dominant ahead of a brave Darren McBrearty in the 800m.

There were a few disappointments though - only 4 in the mens high jump and 5 in the Womens 100m Hurdles.

It was also disappointing to see a young athlete being ushered off the track and denied his chance to race in the Junior 3000m. He entered correctly, his name was listed on the programme, he collected his number and turned up to the start but was told by a former international secretary of BLE that he could not run as he had not gone to the call room.
Actually there was another competitor who also didn't go the the call room but he slipped into the pack and ran his race. In a minority sport that struggles to hold onto athletes from the age of 17 to 22, it is infuriating to see an athlete denied of his opportunity to compete by such a petty approach. Surely common sense could have prevailed - the junior athlete could have been advised of his error but allowed to compete. Some people just can't let go though.

IrishTrackFan1

Agree I thought there were some great race today with Kennedy the highlight. Also, that there were three heats in the womens 400m was a great sign - I think Clare Mooney ran in the 55s and didn't qualify which is surely a first. And the Womens 100 was also excellent competition.
I think the way our elite athletes treat the nationals tells a lot though about them and our high performance setup and the nonsense interview regarding taking a hard line on no shows by the Senior Team Manager only served to show how cynical some of the athletes are in the way they obey the letter of the law but not the spirit. No need to name names as it was obvious over the weekend who was there to pay their respects to the Senior Championships and the Irish fans and who was there to tick the box of requirements for Barcelona.
Finally I heard a rumour that Kelly Proper might not get selected for Barcelona which would be shocking. She is not having a great season but was properly identified as a potential finalist in London and this Championship should be part of her learning curve for that.

ocnoc

Giants Causeway wrote: »

It was also disappointing to see a young athlete being ushered off the track and denied his chance to race in the Junior 3000m. He entered correctly, his name was listed on the programme, he collected his number and turned up to the start but was told by a former international secretary of BLE that he could not run as he had not gone to the call room.

Nice one by the AAI - how to get rid of athletes from the sport

Red Handed

ocnoc wrote: »

Nice one by the AAI - how to get rid of athletes from the sport

Another example would be letting Chamney away with pulling the shorts/singlet off some kid in the 800m heats, once again the AAI officals didnt "see" anything and yet the entire stand saw our national champion lower himself to cheating because he was panicing with 50m to go as he was boxed and had to win to make the final. A disgraceful act from him and even worse from the AAI officals who appeared to be more concerned about keeping dry rather than watching the races.

Brianderunner

Red Handed wrote: »

Another example would be letting Chamney away with pulling the shorts/singlet off some kid in the 800m heats, once again the AAI officals didnt "see" anything and yet the entire stand saw our national champion lower himself to cheating because he was panicing with 50m to go as he was boxed and had to win to make the final. A disgraceful act from him and even worse from the AAI officals who appeared to be more concerned about keeping dry rather than watching the races.

I agree 100%, Chamney should have been thrown out. AAi officials didnt see it apparently, how very convenient. One rule for one, one rule for another.

devotional1993

ocnoc wrote: »

Nice one by the AAI - how to get rid of athletes from the sport

If he has any sense he will take up a team sport. I would not want my kid getting into athletics. Thankless sport run by morons in this country.

Pisco Sour

IrishTrackFan1 wrote: »

Finally I heard a rumour that Kelly Proper might not get selected for Barcelona which would be shocking. She is not having a great season but was properly identified as a potential finalist in London and this Championship should be part of her learning curve for that.

That has to be just a rumour. She has the standard, and has competed in the nationals so how can she not get picked?

letsbefriends

Brianderunner wrote: »

I agree 100%, Chamney should have been thrown out. AAi officials didnt see it apparently, how very convenient. One rule for one, one rule for another.

where's chamney's foul?
http://www.flotrack.org/videos/play/346607

if anything that guy in the yellow should have been disqualified for throwing chamney a harsh elbow and nearly knocking him over...

are we here to run or are we run to put our tootoos on and have a dance?

ocnoc

theres a difference between pulling someone back and putting your elbows out!

Chamney is lucky not to be floored by your man in yellow. I don't care how fast a guy is, that's blatant cheating

hunnymonster

I've looked at the flotrack a couple of times now and it's still not clear to me if it was a stumble or a pull. I guess the bit that got hidden by the pillar might have made it clearer but until there is something clearer, no more talk about cheating.

maryishairy

I've had a look at it a few times as well and there is no way there was any infringment by Chamney. If anything, it's the guy in green who cuts to the inside which causes the bump between Chamney and guy in yellow. That's track racing.......

drrunner

04072511 wrote: »

That has to be just a rumour. She has the standard, and has competed in the nationals so how can she not get picked?

It is not just a rumour. Proper may well end up being named on the team, but her coach spent the weekend arguing with the relevant officials in trying to make her case. Their (the officials!) point of view was that she has not got current form. They made several attempts to get views from others (not directly working with the athlete) to back up this view and justify her exclusion. However, hopefully sense will prevail and she will be named in the team. She is commonly touted as a potential finalist at least for London (which I believe is a fair assessment) so how can there be any case for leaving her off the team for an event like Barcelona just because she has had a few competitions where she has not improved her PB? In fact she is an athlete who has steadily improved year on year and in fact could be argued to be one of the more consistent athletes at the level she is at! And that's without getting into the dynamic of field events vs track events in making finals at major championships. Perhaps this is an example where having a Performance Director who is a triathlon rather than an athletics man is a disadvantage in understanding selection issues?

theflash800

Red Handed wrote: »

Another example would be letting Chamney away with pulling the shorts/singlet off some kid in the 800m heats, once again the AAI officals didnt "see" anything and yet the entire stand saw our national champion lower himself to cheating because he was panicing with 50m to go as he was boxed and had to win to make the final. A disgraceful act from him and even worse from the AAI officals who appeared to be more concerned about keeping dry rather than watching the races.

it wasnt a kid who he pushed... the two lads he tried to push past are both u23 any way. But after seeing the way he tried to push between those guys with 50 yards to go in the heat... he should have be point blank DQ'd...or at least the guys he pushed should be allowed through to the final... all the fastest losers times were very very close... so the guys he pushed could have possibly made the fastest loser spots if they hadnt of been knocked off their stride....
It was just a bad move by the champion, in my opinion. Disappointed to see it coming from a guy of his standard.

bazman

I didn't see it live, but from the video I think it would have been harsh to disqualify Chamney. There was an accidental clash and did what he had to do to avoid hitting the deck. It's a difficult one ...

gmurran

Didn't see the Chamney thing. I was 8 seconds behind at that stage

The worst part of the event was the men's 10K. 3 Le Vale guys were told to do an extra lap when they and the crowd clearly knew they had completed the 25 laps. The officials were off having a chat. Apart from that it was enjoyable.

smcclaw

Here's some photos of the weekend's action. I'll add some more later in the week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/irish_sports_photography/sets/72157624465706800/

RunToFart

The angle of the video does not show the momentum lost as a result of the event nor the pulling of the shorts. If there was another video taken, that wasnt behind a pillar... further down the stand it would have shown what was evident to everyone in the stand.
if you do look at the video you will see the two athletes sprinting up the home straight both of whom are in lane1. there are 10 sprint lanes up the home straight in santry. these are grown men so aint exactly small. why did an athlete of chamneys experience and talent feel the need to force his way through a gap that it is very evident was not there. the two athletes in front rightly defended their ground. The effort of this defence caused the momentum of the green athlete to move in, causing chamney, who realised wasnt going to get through the non-gap to stumble and grab hold of the yellow athlete thus impeding him.
i understand there is bumping in track but in my opinion he was guilty of unsporting behaviour and should have been punished. Looking at the qualification times to make the final then it didnt make any difference but as this was heat2 the athletes didnt know what time they would have needed to get to the final.

Red Handed

if anything that guy in the yellow should have been disqualified for throwing chamney a harsh elbow and nearly knocking him over...

are we here to run or are we run to put our tootoos on and have a dance?

If they did have tootoos on chamney would have been left with a nice handful! The kid looks like he weighs about 9 stone, he couldnt knock chmaney over if he tried. Where are you seeing this harsh elbow, theres a big difference between throwing an elbow and running into the back of someones elbow when they are pumping thier arms down the home straight.

Glad to see we have a representitive of crusaders ac here anyway. if not the man himself.

shels4ever

Red Handed wrote: »

If they did have tootoos on chamney would have been left with a nice handful! The kid looks like he weighs about 9 stone, he couldnt knock chmaney over if he tried. Where are you seeing this harsh elbow, theres a big difference between throwing an elbow and running into the back of someones elbow when they are pumping thier arms down the home straight.

Glad to see we have a representitive of crusaders ac here anyway. if not the man himself.

Was there a protest lodged by the Athlete himself of the club? I doubt if it was anyone else other then Chamney anything woudl be said. Watched it many times not and didnt see much wrong, but I wasnt there on the day .

Red Belly

IIRC Chamney got some stick for being "pushed around" in his 1500m heat in Berlin last year. Now it appears that if he does some "pushing" (I'm not convinced it was anything more than an unfortunate coming together) he gets stick?


rb

ecoli

shels4ever wrote: »

Was there a protest lodged by the Athlete himself of the club? I doubt if it was anyone else other then Chamney anything woudl be said. Watched it many times not and didnt see much wrong, but I wasnt there on the day .

I agree that this kinda thing does happen in middle distance races. Does seem to have got more attention just because it was Chamney i mean the 1500m ad a similar incident at about half way but does not seem to be getting any attention

anotheronebites

Red Handed wrote: »

when they are pumping thier arms down the home straight.

pity he didn't pump harder

woodchopper

anotheronebites wrote: »

pity he didn't pump harder

I wont quote the entire piece but it goes along the lines of the honour is with the man who is out there sweating blood for a noble cause not with the observer who dare critize the endeavour. No athlete competing in a national championship should be ridiculed by a poster who hides his identity for fear of been exposed. Let us celebrate does who dare to dream and compete not those who dare to stay within their comfort zones and joke from the sideline.

The argumnet proves one crucial point. Mr Chamney is a not a great championship racer ( so far) particulary when it is tactical. He has no reason to get stuck the way he did in the heats given his experience over the distance.

fiddy3

Want another example of officials getting it severely wrong at the weekend? Kelly Proper's final jump, which saw her overtake another athlete for the gold, was a clear break, witnessed by just about everyone by the long jump pit. Bizarrely, the official then said 'measure', giving her the win. If you think i'm making this up, watch the programme on the rte player, and watch her reaction after landing for the winning jump. Freaked because she knew it was a break. Guess someone knew someone over at the long jump pit. :rolleyes:

thirtyfoot

fiddy3 wrote: »

Want another example of officials getting it severely wrong at the weekend? Kelly Proper's final jump, which saw her overtake another athlete for the gold, was a clear break, witnessed by just about everyone by the long jump pit. Bizarrely, the official then said 'measure', giving her the win. If you think i'm making this up, watch the programme on the rte player, and watch her reaction after landing for the winning jump. Freaked because she knew it was a break. Guess someone knew someone over at the long jump pit. :rolleyes:

It's been proven that whinging and moaning on boards with an anonymous username will really not make a difference. To all to the whinging and moaning losers, if you have a grievance, follow it up where you can really make a difference. Grow balls. Got an email from a coach who according to boards was chasing and trying to persuade team management all weekend. They were having a good chuckle at the thought but also a little scared that someone was following them all weekend!!!


The A/R/T forum is sucking some serious metaphorical ass recently. Bring back the glory days of Pherekydes, Rineanna, flipflops, Roymc, ecoli, cfitz, woddle, racingflat, hardworker, hunnym et al. Might start a retro thread for decent threads where we'd agree and row in equal measure and take evrything with a pinch of salt. Glory days!!!!!

fiddy3

Not really my place to appeal or email the aai, on the day is the time for all that, just pointing out what seemed a major mistake (or was it more???) by an official at the weekend. If an athlete lost out on what should have been a gold medal and national title because of it, it surely deserves some attention and discussion. The example of the kid not getting into the junior 3k because of the call room crap needs to be sorted, how can an official be so rigorous in enforcing the rules on one hand yet blatantly ignore them in another? All in all though, a great day's racing it certainly was.

Rineanna

These conspiracy theories are starting to get slightly tedious. There's absolutely no proof that anybody knows anybody, so please stop firing accusations at officials if you can't back it up.

fiddy3

There were about 30 people at the long jump pit who can back it up, as can the video which shows Proper cursing after she lands, now why would an athlete be annoyed on landing (and bear in mind long jumpers know instinctively if they've just done a good one) if she just jumped a winning jump? Not her fault at all of course, but whoever was judging the board could do with a trip to specsavers. In fairness, the vast majority of the officials do a great job, most of whom are volunteers, but when athletes have trained all winter for that event, they deserve consistency, that's all.

longjump67

Was not at the womens long jump on Saturday but had heard many comments by people who were, that there was doubt over Kelly's last jump. Was surfing the clubs web pages and came across this image of Kelly's last jump. Make of it what you will.

http://www.tirchonaillac.com/Home%20Page%20Docs/2010/2010_07_12/Santry/Santry.html

The same thing happened on Sunday with the Men's long jump, young Mc Mullan from Mid-Ulster had a winning jump of 7.36m which the official using the electronic machine measured even though it was called a foul, but the athlete had asked to see the the impression on the Plasticine, but the officials said although there was no mark he had clearly fouled due to the plasticine being lower than the take off board. He left disgusted maybe this is what happened the day before but was interpreted in a different way by a different official?

notsofast

Certainly doesn't look like a clear foul, more like spot on. Official also looks to be concentrating hard.

Hate all this negativity.

drrunner

Tingle wrote: »

The A/R/T forum is sucking some serious metaphorical ass recently.

Mysterious....whose ass is being sucked:D???

On a positive note - Ailis McSweeney's own prediction that she would get the standard for Barca just came true this evening! 11.40 to break a 32 year old Irish record (in fact the longest standing record on the women's side AFAIK)....yeh!!!!

hello 44

In relation to the Chamney incident, in my view it was accidental and your natural instinct is to put your hand out if your going to fall. All that aside both other athletes involved could and should have made the final of the 800 if they had raced from the start instead of waiting for some young lad to make a move from 300 mtr gone. It was at the 500 mtr mark before the race began, so I have no sympathy for either athlete as if they ran to their potential judging on their times so far this year, all three would have easily made the final. In my eyes they gave Chamney too much respect as at 200mtr Chamney dropped the pace way back. Instead of reacting, all the athletes froze.

Giants Causeway

Rineanna wrote: »

These conspiracy theories are starting to get slightly tedious. There's absolutely no proof that anybody knows anybody, so please stop firing accusations at officials if you can't back it up.

With regard to the Junior 3000m I can back it up. I can name the official if your charter permits me?

For verification you could ask the coaches of the gold and silver medalists in the race these two were at the start. One is a former national senior cross country champion who was shouting at the young athlete to start the race anyway and deal with the nonsense after.

That comment is not idle unsubstantiated accusation - it did happen, with many witnesses.

Best of luck to Kelly and madra in Barcelona! Both are fine athletes, well worthy of representing us at major championships.

Rineanna

Giants Causeway wrote: »

With regard to the Junior 3000m I can back it up. I can name the official if your charter permits me?

For verification you could ask the coaches of the gold and silver medalists in the race these two were at the start. One is a former national senior cross country champion who was shouting at the young athlete to start the race anyway and deal with the nonsense after.

That comment is not idle unsubstantiated accusation - it did happen, with many witnesses.

Best of luck to Kelly and madra in Barcelona! Both are fine athletes, well worthy of representing us at major championships.

It was the Long Jump I was referring to specifically, not the 3000m. I would prefer you not to name the officials in question.

It does sound that the AAI could learn a lot from this year's nationals, and I hope they ensure these situations are avoided in future championships as it's slightly tarnished this year's champs.

drrunner

Isn't it natural that after a weekend in which about 40 different events were contested there will be debate and controversy? Isn't that part of what contributes to the interest and intrigue? Isn't a discussion about the standard of officiating just as relevant as a discussion about the standard of athlete performances? Of course a forum such as this really has no practical relevance in the real world - it is just a talking shop, but if you log in that's what you're signing up to surely!!! Personally I can't comment on the 800m incident or the long jumps legality or the athlete being omitted from the junior 3k - on the other hand I can personally attest to overhearing heated conversation regarding the selection of an athlete between a coach and official and also to a conversation which took place between another coach and official about the same subject which bothered me! In reality there are a number of things going on - mistakes are genuinely made (possibly in the long jump incidents?), incidents occur where the rights and wrongs are simply not clear cut (the 800m), athletes, spectators and officials bring other agendas to the party which can be difficult to decipher (perhaps in the junior 3k or in selection decisions) and sometimes there can be actual badness in how decisions are made/athletes are treated. Vincent Hogan had a good article today in the Independent which explored the theme that Sport can't force social values - it reflects them. It was in relation to the various incidents at GAA matches over the weekend, but is probably equally relevant to the miscellany of incidents which occur in a weekend of Track & Field!