CIARA MAGEEAN was less than a half a second outside the Olympic qualifying time for 1,500m in Italy on Sunday.
Running in the Rieti Meeting outside Rome, the Portaferry woman took another five-hundredths of a second off her own Northern Ireland record with a 4:06.49 mark. It was the second time in less than a week that Mageean narrowly missed the standard of 4:06.00 after running 4:06.54 in Rovereto last Tuesday evening.
Mageean finished fifth in yesterday’s race won by Ethiopia’s World Junior silver medalist Gudaf Tsegay in 4:05.17. The UCD athlete decided to skip the recent IAAF World Championships in Beijing to concentrate on preparing for the Olympics. She will now have to target an Olympic qualifying time early next outdoor season. Kerry woman Laura Crowe was also in action at the meeting, finishing fifth in the 800m B race in 2:04.68
On Saturday Mark English put in a strong finish to win the 500m at the Great North City Games on Tyneside in 59.58 seconds. The Letterkenny man has been in good late season form and overcame a number of top athletes including the USA's Johnny Dutch and Britain's Rabah Yousif.
English was at the back of the field on the road section but came through on the final 100 metres of the artificial track to snatch victory just before the line.
"I'm delighted to be here and delighted to take the win," said English who also confirmed his season was now at an end.
Thomas Barr also finished his season but on Friday night at the Brussels Diamond League meeting where he finished in the 400m hurdles in 49.80 seconds.
It was a fitting conclusion to the Ferrybank athlete’s best ever season which included a gold medal at the World University Games and a semi-final spot in the World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
Meanwhile at home, Finn Valley’s Barry Harron had a comfortable win in yesterday’s Donegal 5K Championships in Letterkenny. The Castlefin man crossed the line in 15:20, 11 seconds ahead of 50-year-old Pauric McKinney with Letterkenny’s Commonwealth Games representative Daniel Mooney taking the bronze medal in 15:36.
Letterkenny’s Ann-Marie McGlynn outclassed the opposition in the women’s contest, finishing 14th overall, in a time of 16:40. Her much-improved clubmate Fionnuala Diver took the runner-up spot in 17:33 with Derry Track Club’s Hannah McGowan third in 19:28.
Finn Valley took both senior team titles as well as the master men’s but were thwarted in their hopes of a cleansweep by Inishowen who were winners of the master women’s trophy.
Mark McKinstry and Karen Alexander lifted the top prizes at Saturday’s Wilderbeast 10 Miles Trail Race held in the grounds of Glenarm Castle. The North Belfast Harrier covered the testing course in 58:44 with the Sperrin Harrier leaving the other women trailing in her wake with a 68:07 clocking.
On Friday night Orangegrove’S John Craig moved well clear of the field to win the Ards Lions 5 Miles in 27:41 with Ballydrain Harrier Denise Logue being the first woman to cross the finish line with a 30:58 timing.
Britain's Mo Farah won the Great North Run yesterday for the second year in a row in a thrilling finish ahead of Stanley Biwott of Kenya. Kenyan Mary Keitany retained the women's title she won in record time last year. See results.
