ATHLETICS/CORK CITY SPORTS:IT WAS left to Olive Loughnane to serve up the only home victory at Saturday's Cork City Sports, and while a couple more Irish athletes are showing signs of improvements ahead of next month's World Championships in Korea, for others the concerns remain.
Loughnane was always going to be a class apart in the specially-staged 3km walk, although Paul Hession made a great effort for a sprint victory, narrowly losing out in the both the 100 and 200 metres – the latter to Alonso Edward of Panama, the reigning World Championship silver medallist, who edged away down the straight to win a thriller in 20.89 seconds.
“No matter what way you look on it this is just competition and preparation for the World Championships later in the summer,” said Hession, a keen supporter of the event, now in its 60th year.
“I’m very happy with the way things are going. I intentionally made a late start to the season because I want to be at my peak for Daegu. That is the place to be running fast and breaking records.
“But Cork has been very good to me in the past and whenever I’ve run here I’ve always come away with a good feeling about myself.
“The wind was strong out there and, to be honest, I’ve never ran well into the wind, although I’m definitely stronger this year. Now I’m aiming to make the final in Daegu. That is my goal and I feel I’m progressing down that road.”
Among the other highlights was Nick Willis, the Olympic silver medallist from the New Zealand, winning the 1,500m, in 3:40 flat.
Local star Derval O’Rourke had by-passed the event to compete in Switzerland yesterday, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and was rewarded with an impressive season-best of 12.84 in the 100m hurdles. Victory went to Swiss 22-year-old Lisa Urech, who ran a sensational personal best 12.62.
But there was more woe for David Gillick when he could only manage 47.21 in the 400m, with victory going to Mogawane Ofentse of South African in 45.65.
Finally, at the Junior meet in Mannheim, Germany, the best Irish performance was by Liam Markham of Ennis Track who was fourth in the 1,500m in 3:45.93, a personal best.
