Athletics feelgood factor to the fore at National Indoor Championships

By Thomas Conway

Back when the ancient Greeks invented athletics in those Olympiad 2,000 years ago, do you think they ever envisaged all that running and jumping and throwing taking place under a roof? Probably not.

But whoever first proposed the idea of housing a track in an indoor facility really did land upon a gem. Much like tennis or American football or indeed any sport that has ever been enclosed in an indoor facility, there’s something very different about athletics under a roof. Pack a bunch of athletes and a crowd of fans into a confined space and it’s always going to ignite fireworks.

And so, it did last weekend in the National Indoor Arena, where the great and the good of Irish athletics converged for the National Indoor Championships.

There were some notable absences - Rhasidat Adeleke is busy on the college circuit in the US, Andrew Coscoran (who recently smashed Eamon Coghlan’s mile record in New York) had to withdraw due to illness - but many of last summer’s Olympic heroes were out in force, fine-tuning their preparations for the Europeans which take place in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn in a fortnight’s time.

It wasn’t all about the big names however. The beauty of a national championship is the opportunity it affords to emerging talents and top-class club athletes to brush shoulders with the elite, to rank themselves against the very best. Sometimes there are moments in which an athlete announces themselves on the national stage. There was one on Saturday, but more of that later.

Local success

A few weeks ago, Nenagh Olympic AC’s Laura Frawley had soared to victory in the Pentathlon at the Combined Events Championship at the same Blanchardstown arena.

Frawley is clearly a formidable all-round athlete, but she’s well capable of specialising too, and on Saturday she followed up her pentathlon triumph with a silver medal in the 28lb weight for distance category, reaching 7.10 metres on her sixth and final attempt. Kotryna Pacerinskaite of Mitchelstown club Fanahan McSweeney AC was crowned champion, with a finishing distance of 8.30 metres.

Bruree native Frawley, who is currently studying primary teaching at Mary Immaculate College, was content with her performance.

“I’m delighted. To come away with a silver medal, when you’re up here competing alongside the best of the best, I’m thrilled,” she said.

Frawley admitted she wasn’t fazed by the experience. As she explained afterwards, she’s accustomed to performing, often multiple times in a matter of hours.

Pentathletes are different animals in that respect, and the Limerick native maintained that pressure wasn’t an issue, even at an event as atmospherically charged as a national championship.

“I’m not really the type of person that gets nervous,” Frawley added.

“You could probably see me, I was relaxed out there. But I’m a pentathlete. I’m used to competing regularly, doing maybe five or six or even eight events a day. So, I think that worked in my favour today. I was able to settle in quickly, even though it was the first event of the day.”

Frawley would later run a respectable 9.10s in the heats of the 60 metre hurdles, an event ultimately dominated by the blistering Sarah Lavin. The Irish Olympic flag-bearer from Paris, who is trained by Nenagh native Noelle Morrissey, is gearing up for another crucial year on the track.

She had the country in awe last summer after overcoming immense personal loss to compete in Paris, but her athletic ability is almost as impressive as her mental resilience.

To watch her in the flesh is pretty spellbinding. She attacks the hurdles rather than jumping them, and comfortably eased to the gold medal in a finishing time of 8.11 for a seventh national title.

Lavin admits however, that she is still seeking to scratch that few extra milliseconds from her time. She will be 30 this May. There is certainly another Olympics in her, but 2025 is unquestionably a big year for her.

Honest character

Padraic Hassett lives a stone’s-throw away from the Nenagh Éire-Óg GAA pitch, but the TÚS student is rapidly carving out a reputation as one of Nenagh Olympic’s most explosive 400 metre talents.

Hassett impressed on Saturday, emerging as one of the three fastest qualifiers from the 400 heats, and then surprising himself by finishing second in his semi-final, securing a place in Sunday’s final.

He hadn’t booked a hotel room in the expectation that he wouldn’t need one, and so drove home on Saturday and back up again on Sunday morning.

Hassett has high standards. He is hard on himself, perhaps too hard on himself, and came into the weekend with an individual goal in mind. Speaking before his semi-final, he stated his intentions clearly.

“I came into these championships optimistic, but realistic too,” Hassett revealed.

“I’m looking at my own personal performance, that’s the priority, to get down to 48 seconds, that’s my goal.

“But look it, if it’s not meant to be it’s not meant to be. Whatever happens, there’s more to come this year from me. I’m looking to the future. I’m looking to push on.”

He would subsequently post a time of 49.12s in the semi-final, and 49.40s in the final (finishing fifth). Not meant to be this time for Hassett, but an impressive championship nonetheless.

His colleague in the Nenagh Olympic 4x400 relay team, Jack Hickey, is another gutsy 200 metre runner. Perhaps the most affable character at these indoor championships, Hickey is as talented an athletics commentator as he is an athlete. A teacher with a Masters in Sports Performance, he didn’t progress on Saturday but still ran superbly in a fiercely competitive heat.

“I was delighted,” Hickey said.

“Lane 4 is really tough in the indoor track, and I actually had my training partner (David Forkan - Swinford AC) outside me so I kind of knew if I could get out and get on his shoulder then I’d be on for a good run. I ran 23.30 here at the Varsities two weekends ago. And that was from lane 6, so to run 23.40 two lanes inside that, I’m delighted. It’s a good day's work.”

Glory for Moyne

There were many stories that grabbed the headlines at these championships.

Yet again, Sharlene Mawdsley confirmed her status as one of Ireland’s leading 400m talents by retaining her national indoor title. Sarah Healy smashed her own championship record before winning the 1500m.

Bori Akinola eclipsed his chief rival Israel Olatunde to claim a 60m gold in a race that expressed the strength of Irish sprinting.

But by far and above the story of the weekend from a Tipperary perspective was the success of 22 year-old Moyne AC starlet Katie Bergin. The UCC student celebrated her return from injury by somewhat unexpectedly landing the 200m title.

Galmoy native Bergin is one of Ireland’s most exciting emerging talents. Coached by Martin Flynn, she created history in 2023 by becoming the first athlete from Moyne AC to land a national title - the 200m outdoor crown in Santry. Now she has emulated that achievement indoors, a feat that, even to her, seemed insurmountable on Saturday morning.

“Coming up here, a medal wasn’t on my mind,” she admitted.

“I was out injured at the start of the year, so to even be here was a massive boost for me. But then as we went through the rounds, through the heats, I think I ran 24.27 but I knew I could go quicker. So I went out in the final and replicated that - I ran 24.03. I was so close to breaking that 24 second barrier which is a bit sickening but I don’t mind. I’m just delighted to come away with gold.”

Bergin has spoken before of her dream of becoming an elite professional athlete, and indeed one day an Olympian. She currently resides in that class of athletes just below the likes of Sharlene Mawdsley.

To give you an indication of her commitment, on Sunday she drove back down to UCC for college. She’s up in Dublin again for a competition on Wednesday evening, and back in college for 9.00am on Thursday morning. It’s a gruelling existence, particularly when you’re afflicted by injury. But Bergin is feeling positive. This title could launch her 2025 season.

“The injury did affect me but all winter I trained through it as best I could,” she added.

“It was hard at times, finding what I could do versus what I couldn’t do, but I feel like I’m in good shape now, looking ahead towards the rest of the season.”

Bergin’s target is the World University Games in Germany in July. To get there she must run a time of 23.80s - well within her ability, she believes.