Old guard show how it's done

ATHLETICS: They were intended to mark the arrival of the new generation of Irish athletics, and yet the weekend's National Championships weren't without their share of comebacks.

Peter Coghlan, Gary Ryan and Karen Shinkins were among those to extend their catalogue of national titles just a few months after being told by the Irish Sports Council they were no longer good enough for grant aid - and both Coghlan and Shinkins will use their victories as a springboard to next month's World Championships in Helsinki.

Most of yesterday's finals in Santry did mark a changing of the guard, and none more than the distance races. Both Mary Cullen of Sligo and Martin Fagan of Mullingar were back in town from Providence College in the US and collected their first 5,000-metre titles with equally impressive displays of determined front-running, clocking 16:02.05 and 14:11.44 respectively.

Jolene Byrne of Dublin and Gary Murray of Donegal both train at home but they also collected their first national titles on the track - adding 1,500-metre golds to the national cross-country titles they'd won on the fields behind Santry earlier this year. None of those four are headed to Helsinki, but they are names for the future.

The Irish team for the World Championships will be announced this morning, and Coghlan and Shinkins would have been among the first names put down. Coghlan won his ninth title in the 110 metres hurdles, is still only 30, and despite announcing his retirement in the wake of the grant fiasco is now approaching the sport with renewed vigour.

"I don't think I've shown the form I'm capable of showing yet," said Coghlan, a clear winner in 13.91 seconds. "I do think I can get into the 13.6 region. But I'm happy to go on. It was my friends and family who convinced me to stick with it, but I do feel like I'm operating outside the system now, if you can call it a system. And I've plans for next year already."

Shinkins, at 28, also believes she has plenty of running to do before she retires and proved that by winning her ninth consecutive 400-metre title in 52.49 seconds - the third fastest she'd run in Santry.

"The plan all along was to peak for the Worlds," she said, "and I feel I am coming into the shape of my life. So I'll be going to Helsinki in an optimistic mood."

When it comes to the championship sprints in Ireland there is still no one faster than Gary Ryan. Yesterday the 33-year-old Nenagh man won his fifth 100-metre title in 10.69 seconds - he has another four from the 200 metres. Ryan knows Helsinki has come around too fast but he'll keep going until next year's European championships.

The women's sprints produced three remarkable races. On Saturday, Emily Maher put on perhaps her finest display as a senior to win the 200 metres in 23.39 - seven years after she'd won the event at the World Youth Olympics. But Maher could only manage third in the 100 metres behind Anna Boyle, who produced a Northern Ireland record of 11.53 seconds to claim her first gold medal.

Squeezing in between them was Derval O'Rourke, who was back on the track less than an hour after winning the 100 metres hurdles in a championship best performance of 12.95 seconds. For a hurdles expert her silver medal was remarkable.

The 800-metre finals also produced two memorable races.

Aoife Byrne of Dundrum defended her title with another display of pure class, clocking 2:06.14. And Ciarán O'Connell from Monaghan ran a superb tactical race to take the men's title in 1:50.73.