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A sunny, cold and blustery evening was the setting for the first of what will be elite type Grand Prix Track and Field meets in Ireland. Organised jointly by Crusaders and the Irish Milers club this meet attracted Irelands best sprinters, middle distance and pole vaulters.

Sprinters were up first in the 100, 200, 400 and 400m hurdles. The wind was too strong to allow times to stand but the 100m was won in 10.50 by Sey Ogunlew. 200m winner was ex Crusader Steve Colvert whilst in the 400m flat Brian Murphy just back from warm weather training in Portugal pipped young Kieran Kelly.

It was a case of student beating teacher as John Fagan beat his coach Jeremy Lyons in an exciting 400m hurdles. In a very exciting pole vault competition seven of Ireland’s best competed with Ian Rogers getting a stadium record of 4.60m. Whilst in the discus/shot Clonliffes Tomas Kauktys was the clear winner.

Race of the night was undoubtedly the women’s 800m which saw Siobhan Eviston excitingly edge out Amy O’Donoghue and Niamh Kearney with all three finishing within 0.90 seconds of each other. This battle greatly impressed the watching Caroline O’Shea. Caroline, for those too young to remember (!!), is still the second fastest Irish female over 800m and fought her way to the Olympic 800m final in LA 1984. When will that happen again and WHEN will an Irish female break 2 minutes??

Back from warm memories of LA ‘84 to the chillier ones of the 8th May 2010 and the men’s 800 A which was won in most impressive style by Mark Patterson in 1.52 with Noel Collins and Danny Mooney grabbing 2nd and 3rd from Fergal Ennis.

The B 800 had a clear winner in Cathal Daly with the main competition for 2nd and 3rd positions coming from Jordan Stokes (2nd), Darragh Lynch (3rd) and Stephen Harkness.

The Men’s C race ( including two women Aoife Byrne and Fiona Kehoe) was set up to accommodate athletes seeking to break the two minutes barrier although Andrew Brennan was the only one to do so.

Largest field of the night of 22 runners was the 3k A and B races which we combined. Joe Sweeney back from a long lay off continues his comeback with a tasty 8.08 whilst Aidan Bailey had a BIG PB of 8.17 edging out Mark Hanrahan and Sean Connolly in an exciting finish. The B was won by Andrew Agnew with Lee Van Haeften from the growing band of promising athletes under the tutelage of John Downes, second.

The 1500m also attracted a good field of 14 with six breaking the four minutes. In an exciting battle for honours Patrick Brennan edged out James O’Hare and Niall Robinson.