Alex Wright Achieves World Championship Qualification Time

Alex Wright (Leevale AC) put in a phenomenal performance in the 20k walk in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge which took place in La Coruna, Spain on the 6th of June. The race produced some exceptional performances with Wright placing 16th in the race with a time of 1.22.09. The performance is inside the World championship qualification time and also places him second on the Irish all time lists for the 20km walk behind World Champion Rob Heffernan (1:20.18 London 2012).

Irish Athletes were competing across the board in the Genève International over the weekend with some standout performances. Kelly Proper (Ferrybank AC) claimed first place with a time of 23.26s in a close fought Women's 200m race, only .06s off the World Qualification standard. Sarah McCarthy (Mid-Sutton AC) was another female Irish athlete who impressed on the day, jumping 6.23m in the long jump which passed the qualification mark for the European U23 Championships.

Marcus Lawler (St Laurence O'Toole AC) followed up placing first in a quick 100m race (10.47s), by setting a new personal best 200m time with a run of 20.74s to place second. Brian Gregan (Clonliffe Harriers AC) was another Irish runner who impressed on the day, setting a new season best with 46.34s in the 400m event.

The Irish U23 male relay team ran a time of 40.27 in the 4X100m which was below the qualifying time for the European U23 Championships. Each team member built on the last runners' performance to claim top spot ahead of the Swiss team. The record breaking team was made up of Marcus Lawler, Johnathon Browning, Eanna Madden and Stephen Gaffney.