Royal Rumble Rankings - Jessie Goes to No 1

Jessie Barr has gone to No 1 in the rankings in the first edition of the 2012 Royal Rumble Rankings. This is thanks to her 57.38 from Loughborough today. Her brother Thomas goes 2nd while Ben Reynolds is 3rd after his race in Loughborough. The rankings are time weighted and based off IAAF scoring charts. At the moment 25% of this years scoring counts with 75% based off the 2011 scores but at the season progresses this will inverse. Those in green mean they have moved up a position from last year.

Notables this year are:

Catherine McManus up 15 places to 15th after her super 13.88 at the AAI Games
Christine McMahon up 21 places to 20th after her return to racing at the BUCS

Lavin Ready To Make The Step Up

After a stunning indoor season Sarah Lavin will open her outdoor season in Leevale tomorrow. Lavin will surely be chasing a World Junior standard this season and based off indoor time alone a sub 14 second looks like it cold be on the cards. Fellow Limerick woman, Lily Ann O' Hora had a breakthrough indoor season herself and will look to kick start her season too.

The men's race will see Simon Taggart look to get his outdoor season off to a flying start after his move to the John Coghlan training group over the winter. Local man Edmond O' Halloran will be the most likely to push Taggart.

Latest Entries:

Women

• Ailbhe Courtney
• Orla Furney
• Lisa Houlihan
• Sarah Lavin
• Sinead McDonagh
• Lily-Ann O' Hora

Men

• Brendan Corrigan
• Ger Cremin
• Simon Doyle
• Adrian Jackman
• Edmond O' Halloran
• Simon Taggart

One Direction Only In Leevale

The women’s 400m hurdles is going to be a great showcase of the underage talent coming through the event in Ireland at present. The event is going in one direction and that is up. Clare Murphy will go with the fastest PB but the inclusion of Grainne Moynihan will provide a stern test of the SLOT athlete. Moynihan has a PB in the flat of 55.13 from last season’s European Youth championships.


Others who are likely to figure are Nessa Millet and Orla Furney with indeed these two and Murphy likely to meet in the South Leinster schools a few weeks later chasing just two qualifications spots for the Leinster schools. Leevale will likely prove a good indicator of form. Ailbhe Courtney will also be keen to see how a winter in the hotbed of long hurdling at the moment in UL has benefited her.

Leevale Live Results

Latest startlist:

• Elaine Begley

• Ailbhe Courtney

• Orla Furney

• Nessa Millet

• Grainne Moynihan

• Clare Murphy

• Hannah Trehy

• Sarah Woods

Titanic Battle Set For Cork

The ill-fated Titanic set sail from a Cork port 100 years ago this week. The unsinkable ship came a cropper a few days later when due to probable arrogance regarding its own invincibility it hit an iceberg and poor Jack and Rose never got to spend that glorious life together.


Thomas Barr could be regarded as the unsinkable man in Irish long hurdling at the moment but Saturday’s season opener at the Leevale Open will be a big test for the Waterford man. Potential icebergs will come in the form of training partner Timmy Crowe, European U23 semi-finalist Paul Byrne and European Youth Champion and clubmate Ben Kiely. Barry Upton will be making a welcome comeback after missing all of 2011 through injury and indications are that he is going better than ever over the hurdles. One thing is sure and that is if Barr does lose on Saturday it won’t be through arrogance or a lack of appreciation for his opposition as he knows his rivals all too well and exactly what dangers lie just below the surface.

Latest entry list kindly passed on by the guys at Leevale:

• Thomas Barr
• Paul Byrne
• Daniel Colbert
• Eoghan Courtney
• Tim Crowe
• Ben Kiely
• Samuel Simon
• Barry Upton
• Darren Watters

Previews of the three other hurdle events to follow.

Chance to run in Olympic Stadium

The queen of Irish Hurdling, Derval O' Rourke, launched this iniative this week. It will see up to hundreds of people do a 100m across four venues in Ireland with one person being drawn randomly to win a fantastic trip to the Olympic Stadium in London. The trip will include a 100m race in the stadium and a training session with Jessica Ennis.

Ireland On Your marks

Andrew Creams It In Nenagh

Andrew Creamer from Annalee in Co Cavan was the standout performer of the Boys competition at the Woodies DIY All-Ireland Juvenile Championships at the weekend. He won the BU18 60m hurdles in 8.04 from Ryan McParland (8.53) and Colin Nolan (8.74). Cavan took gold too in the BU17 when Garbhan McKenna won in 8.64 from Sam Healy (8.79) and Ruidhri O' Neill (8.82). Northern dominance continued in the BU19 when Mark NcGarvey from City of Derry won in 8.45 from Eoin Power (8.71) and Oisin Fitzpatrick (8.71), seems the pipeline of Northern high hurdlers behind Ben Reynolds is healthy. In the three older ages, Northern clubs took five of the nine medals on offer with three golds, a silver and a bronze.

The girls competition was dominated by three long hurdlers who will all come head to head in the South Leinster schools later next month. What a battle that will be to merely qualify for the Leinster schools when its very likely any of the three could medal at the Irish schools. The first of three, Orla Furney of Gorey won the GU18 in 9.10 from Niamh Fussey (9.48) and Lynda Earls (9.59). The other two, Clare Murphy and Nessa Millet were 1-2 in the GU19 in 8.92 and 9.48 respectively with Emily Geoghegan (9.99) in third. Clare and Nessa were also 1-2 in the 400 flat. Kelly McGrory won a nailbiter in the GU17 from Shannon Dawkins with Jayne Pennefather third.

A great standard of competition and also great to see great times in teh younger ages all the way down to under 13.

McGarvey On His Way To Victory

Full details are here - http://www.athleticsireland.ie/content/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/short-version-25-march.pdf

Irish Record Progression

Pierce O' Callaghan has posted this on our FB site. Can anyone help? Anyone able to assist? Would be some great stats to have. Contact him here. pierce@savvysportsmgt.com


Hi guys, The AAI Technical Committee are undertaking the huge task of compiling Irish Record progression since 1900...Anyone with any info please mail me at pierce@savvysportsmgt.com Here is the 110H back to 1986....

Men
110m H
13.30 (+0.6) Peter Coghlan 27.03.75 Hechtel 07.08.99

13.38 (+0.5) Peter Coghlan 27.03.75 Haapsalu 31.07.99

13.47 (+0.6) Peter Coghlan 27.03.75 Lahti 05.06.99

13.55 (+1.1) TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Atlanta 28.07.96

13.60 (+0.7) TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Helsinki 12.08.94

13.63 (+0.1) TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Helsinki 11.08.94

13.63 (+1.8) TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Barcelona 02.08.92

13.64 TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Brussels 14.06.92

13.71 TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Tokyo 27.08.91

13.75 TJ Kearns 26.06.66 London 12.07.91

13.89 TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Athens 12.09.89

13.91 TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Cwmbran 25.08.88

13.95 TJ Kearns 26.06.66 London 02.08.87

14.23 TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Maia 28.06.87

14.39 TJ Kearns 26.06.66 Dublin 17.08.86

14.41 (+1.7) Brendan Mullin 30.10.63 Dublin 25.05.86