Northern Ireland

Olympic delight for Co Tyrone twin as she sets new steeplechase record

Eilish Flanagan from Co Tyrone in the women's 3000m steeplechase heats at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA Wire
Eilish Flanagan from Co Tyrone in the women's 3000m steeplechase heats at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA Wire Eilish Flanagan from Co Tyrone in the women's 3000m steeplechase heats at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA Wire

THERE was double delight for twin Co Tyrone sisters at the weekend, as they both ran 'out of their skin' in their respective races - albeit thousands of miles apart.

In the searing heat of the Olympic games in Tokyo, Eilish Flanagan set a new Northern Ireland record for the 3,000 metre steeplechase, shaving six seconds off her previous personal best.

Just hours earlier, at the much cooler Mary Peters Track in Belfast, her twin sister Roisin won the 1500 metre race at the NI and Ulster Senior Track and Field Championships.

Their success came on the same day the county's GAA team lifted the Anglo Celt Cup, having beaten Monaghan by just one point to clinch the Ulster Senior Football Championship title in Croke Park, with a final score of 0-16 to 0-15.

The 24-year-old Gortin sisters are well used to success on the running track, having won numerous titles between them down the years for their school and clubs as well as individual accolades.

Former pupils of Sacred Heart College Omagh, they both won scholarships to study at Adams State University in Colorado.

In the early hours of Sunday morning UK-time, Eilish clocked in at 9:34:86, finishing 12th in her heat.

She had plenty of local supporters cheering her on from the virtual sidelines, among them her club The Carmen Runners and Gortin St Patrick's GAA Club.

The Omagh Harriers Athletic Club, of which both women were members, also spoke of the their delight and pride at Eilish's participation in the Olympics.

Members stayed up into the early hours of Sunday to watch the race.

In a post of Facebook it wrote: "Eilish along with her twin sister Roisin wore the yellow and black of Omagh Harriers for many years as they progressed from talented youngsters under coach Bill McCausland to superb athletes on the world stage.

"Along the way they were coached under the expert guidance of Conor Moore and Sacred Heart College before crossing the Atlantic on US scholarships to Adams State university where their development was taken to the next level resulting in Olympic qualification for Eilish, with Roisin not too far away from qualification either.

"The girls are a credit to themselves and their family, their clubs and their home town of Rouskey, Gortin."

Sacred Heart College said it was "so proud of our former pupil Eilish Flanagan".

"For her to achieve her personal best on such a worldwide stage as the Olympics speaks volumes for her talent and character," the school said.

Meanwhile, Portaferry's Ciara Mageean was due to take part in the women's 1500 metres in Tokyo in the early hours of this morning.

Like her fellow Irish competitors, the 29-year-old will have had a band of supporters sitting up late to watch her, including members of her club, Portaferry GAC, and children and staff from the Children's Cancer and Haematology Unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, of which she is an ambassador.