National Senior Indoors 2023 (18th/19th Feb)
An action packed National Senior Indoors took place at the National Indoor Arena in Dublin on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th february where on Saturday afternoon, Aimee Wallace nearly came a cropper on the kerb in her 1,500m heat, thankfully surviving unscathed, but Euan Lagan wasn’t so fortunate and he injured himself when he hit the kerb in his heat of the 3,000m. Such incidents aside, it was a good Championships for the small group from Mullingar that competed.
Continuing his preparations for the Leinster Juvenile Indoor in two weeks, Kyle Faherty lined up on Saturday morning in the fourth of seven heats of the 200m. With only the fastest six times across all the heats advancing to the final, the competition was fierce but Kyle looked very much at home in this company and ran extremely well for someone so young competing at this level and while his competition ended at the heats stage, the experience will stand to him for the season ahead.
Shauna Leydon admitted to feeling slightly off colour before her heat of the 800m and showing that you need to be at one hundred percent at a National Finals, despite being in a good position going into the final lap, she knew it wasn’t her day and unfortunately had to step off the track and was unable to finish. Nothing serious we’re assured and we wish her a speedy recovery.
Despite going out a little bit too hard with the eventual winner in the opening laps of the 3,000m race walk and admitting to suffering a little in the closing stages, Aisling Lane was in a different class and was never under threat for the silver medal, and with an otherwise faultless display in this tough technical event finished comfortably in second place with over a lap to spare to win the National silver medal.
The entry for the 3,000m was so large, that the field was separated into two heats, with the medals decided on the fastest times over the two races. Going in the first heat, Euan Lagan was full of running after one kilometre and deciding that the pace was too slow, he moved to the front and pushed it on. He looked strong and relaxed in the front, but disaster struck with less than three laps to go when he stumbled slightly on the back straight, and with an unfortunate misstep he hit the inner kerb. He recovered his footing quickly and appeared to be alright but less than half a lap later suddenly pulled up, clearly bothered with a sore ankle, sadly ending his race. After the race he remained confident that it was a minor enough injury and stopped only as a precaution, which is a difficult but ultimately very wise decision.
Running her first 1,500m in several years, Aimee Wallace looked comfortable and full of running in her heat. Going into the final bend she looked certain to finish in the top five places and qualify automatically for the final but disaster struck when two other runners came around her on the outside and collided with her. Pushing her into the kerb, Aimee was forced to step into the infield momentarily before quickly recovering and moving back out again but the lost momentum cost her a place and she finished sixth, just outside the automatic qualifying places. However, an appeal was lodged, the video reviewed and while not resulting in disqualification for any other athlete, the judges decided that Aimee had been impeded and she was given a place in Sunday’s final. In Sunday’s final, Aimee went to the front right from the gun and with two laps to go had opened a sizeable gap on the pack. However, with two laps to go, the pack began to close her down and despite giving it her all she was caught and passed and finished seventh, out of the medals, but was rewarded with a massive 16 second PB of 4 minutes 34.73 seconds and there’s surely more to come this year.
