Following two day’s of intense action at the National Track and Field Championships in Santry, North West athlete’s returned home with six National titles. Donegal’s Mary Mc Loone won two gold’s topping the standings in both the triple and long jumps. For the 7th time in her career Mary won the triple with a 12.14 metre jump. She also took the long jump gold for the first time with a 5.82 metres jump. Letterkenny’s Mark English was crowned the new national 800 metre champion following his gold medal run on Sunday afternoon. English won the race in a time of 1:50:22 to become the first Donegal man to ever win the 800 outdoor title. Jason Smyth retained his 100m title. The Derry sprinter had no problems in securing gold with a 10.52 run. Finn Valley’s Tori Pena also retained her Pole Vault title with a new championship record of 4-20 metres. Saturday’s performance brought to an end a good week for Pena who the previous Monday in Switzerland cleared the 4-40m qualifying standard for the World Championships in Daegu. The sixth gold at Santry was won by Aaron Crawford in the Javelin. The Strabane thrower dominated the competition with his best throw of 63.27 metres well clear of the field by almost 7 metres. There were also three bronze medal winners. Finn Valley’s Theresa Mc Gloin finished 3rd in the 5000m, Letterkenny’s Ciaran Doherty was 3rd in the 3k steeplechase and City of Derry took bronze in the 10,000m team event.
Following his win in the 800 metres, Letterkenny’s Mark English is now the title holder at both indoor and outdoor over the distance. Speaking with Myles Gallagher on Sunday Sport Mark was delighted with the win which he said made up for the disappointment at the European Juniors a few week ago.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
