The home crowd rose to the occasion and Rhasidat Adeleke did too, the Dublin sprinter nailing her last chance to qualify in the 200 metres for next month’s European Championships with magnificent timing and style.
There was a nervy pause inside the Morton Stadium in Santry when Adeleke powered across the finish line to win the National Championship title, before the clock flashed up her time of 22.80 seconds – inside the required 22.85 to book her ticket to Birmingham, where the Europeans take place in just over two weeks’ time.
Better still, Adeleke ran into a stiff -1.1 headwind, suggesting there are faster times to come after – by her own admission – weeks of adversity and increasing pressure, which at times became all-consuming.
Only this time Adeleke let all that pressure go, reminding herself of why, and for who, she first started running for back in her earliest days at Tallaght AC.
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“I didn’t really feel under pressure, or expectation, because I’m just trying to work with the cards I’ve been dealt with this year,” she said. “It’s new for me, this type of adversity. I think throughout my career, I’ve been blessed to have a pretty seamless route to success.
“But a couple of injuries, things that we would have changed with our coaching regime, just so many things that transpired. Performances is the forefront, it’s always been my main priority. And as I improved and I became world-class, I think the pressure builds, not just for myself, but everybody else. And I know pressure is always like that.
“I almost let it consume me a little bit, and I think just having this difficultly and adversity has kind of brought me back to why I do it in the first place. Because you have to analyse everything, when things like that happen. And it just came back to figuring out who I am, why I do this, why I started it, and who I do it for. That’s really the main aspect of what‘s putting me forward these next couple of months”
“So I wasn’t too focused on the times or what was going to happen when I crossed the line. I just wanted to have fun. But I knew that if I can do it anywhere, it’s at home. So thank you to everyone who supported me. I think there’s some times you’re in like a bad place and you kind of think the worst of yourself. And you see the amount of people who are showing you love and support and it just lifts my spirits.”
There were utterly contrasting fortunes for Sharlene Mawdsley, however, who pulled up with what looked like a serious hamstring injury coming into the homestretch. Mawdsley was visibly upset when leaving the track, and is now in her own race against time to get back to her best for Birmingham, having run four personal bests over the 400m this season, and currently ranked fifth fastest in Europe.
Lauren Roy was second in 23.49 seconds, the Ballymena sprinter having already run inside the 22.85 standard with her best of 22.83 in May.
The 23-year-old Adeleke had until midnight on Sunday to secure the qualifying standard, and having abandoned her quest to chase the 400m time, it all came down to this weekend. She also detailed the nature of her setbacks in recent months, including two hamstring injuries which kept her out of training for four weeks at a time at her training base in Austin, Texas.
“I got back from my most recent hamstring strain a week before Prefontaine [on July 4th], so it’s been about a month now since I’ve been able to draw on full speed. For me, being able to build my training, and to compound it, is really important. And because I’ve had so many disruptions, I just wasn’t able to compound my training.
“Now I’m just taking everything a day at a time, trying to relax and enjoy my experience. I want to put having fun at the forefront and pinnacle of why I do this. Like coming out here, I wasn’t pressured to get the time. I just wanted to show up and show out for the crowd and have fun really.
“Now it’s just about building and having racing under my legs. That’s kind of what I’ve been missing this year, because I wasn’t able to race. We’ll see what happens over the next couple weeks, and if I can keep making progress.
“But I’m just going to have fun. That’s why I do this. I do the work, I put my all into this, every single day. And the competition is supposed to be the fun part. And I think sometimes it becomes the anxious part, and the scary part. And people paid their hard-earned money to come out here and have a good day of athletics, so you’ve got to give it to them. I wouldn’t be able to do it without this crowd here, honestly.”
Benji Richardson won the men’s 200m, clocking 20.64 seconds in what was his first race in Ireland, the country of his birth. Representing West Waterford AC, Richardson completed his transfer from South Africa earlier this year. Recent Irish record holder Sean Aigboboh, also of Tallaght AC was second in 20.75.
There were also wins for David Kenny in the 10km walk, while Kate Veale won her 11th national title in the 5km distance. Michaela Walsh and Eric Favors were successful in the shot put, while Sarah Buggy won the triple jump, her 11th title in all.
