Irish stars hit the hot spots with perfect timing

ATHLETICS NEWS ROUND-UP:WARM-WEATHER training was invented by athletes, for athletes, for cold snaps like this – although rarely with the spectacular sense of timing demonstrated by Athletics Ireland.

Since the start of the year, a dozen of Ireland’s top athletes have been attending a camp at Monte Gordo in the Algarve, and will return this weekend, which, of course, means they’ll have missed the worst of the Big Freeze.

Among those enjoying the sunny skies (and sandy beaches) are Derval O’Rourke, Mary Cullen and Róisín McGettigan, along with walkers Olive Loughnane, Jamie Costin and Robbie Heffernan.

Not to be out-smarted, several other athletes are under warmer skies, such as David Gillick, part of a Loughborough University group in South Africa, and David Campbell, making the most of the Australian summer.

“It wasn’t the exact intention, to escape the really bad weather, but from a timing point of view it has worked out extremely well,” says Patsy McGonagle, the Ireland team manager, who is heading up the camp in the Algarve. “Some of the athletes have brought along their coaches, and we’ve a physio here as well. It’s a nice, relaxed attitude, the spirit is good. And it’s also a good opportunity to integrate as a team, which is something we don’t get to do very often.

“Some of them are going off in different directions from here, to South Africa, Australia and so on. The big focus for most of the Irish athletes this year is the European Championships, in Barcelona, in July. We’ve always said we can make a real impact at this level, and that’s the challenge now. Particularly after having athletes rank so highly at the World Championships in Berlin.”

McGonagle is set to continue as team manager through the European Championships, from July 26th to August 1st. Athletics Ireland have announced the qualification criteria, the main issue being more testing standards in certain events compared to those laid down by the European Athletics Association. These are mainly in the middle distances: the 1,500 metres is lowered from 3:42.00 to 3:41; the 5,000 metres from 13:50 to 13:40; and the 10,000 metres from 29:00 to 28:30.

“We simply felt some of the standards were too weak, particularly when set against the standards to the World Championships and Olympics,” says McGonagle. “But that decision was made back in the autumn, so the athletes are well aware of what standards they need to attain.

“On the flip side, we have set the marathon standard easier than other years, at 2:18. The hope is we can restart that event, because there’s no doubt the standards here have dropped.”

For Loughnane, the obvious goal for 2010 is to build on the silver medal won in the 20km walk in Berlin, and she has made one notable adjustment, splitting with her Spanish coach Montse Pastor Martinez, to work with the Norwegian Stefane Platzer, who coached his wife, Kjersti Platzer, to Olympic silver medals in Athens and Beijing.

This switch seemed inevitable, however, when last November allegations of doping surfaced around Spanish race walker Francisco Fernandez, who also worked with Martinez, although the coach was never implicated.

Ironically, one athlete not warm-weather training is one of the most successful of late. Mark Kenneally, who last month produced the best Irish performance at the European Cross in Santry, has been battling the ice and snow to complete his weekly mileage, combining it with his work at the Maynooth physio clinic.

“It was probably more dangerous before Christmas because of the ice on the paths,” he says, “but is has been very hard to get any intense training done. When I got to the end of last week I was looking at some last-minute deals to somewhere warm, but it looks like it’s thawing out now. And I’m not a member of a gym, so I don’t have any access to a treadmill. I actually tried to get into a gym in Maynooth last week, but was told it was members only.”

Kenneally was speaking at the launch of the Great Ireland Run, which takes place on April 18th in the Phoenix Park, and which will double as the national 10km championship. Entries can be made at www.greatirelandrun.org.