Íde Nic Dhomhnaill dazzles with 5,000m triumph at National Senior Track and Field Championships

Every year the the National Senior Track and Field Championship throw up a rich variety of stories and Sunday's 5,000m finals were a perfect illustration.

In the men’s event, 24-year-old Brian Fay, World Championships bound and with hopes of making the final in Budapest next month, ran the sort of race that he would have planned.

His only previous national title was two years ago in the 3,000m steeplechase but, based again in Ireland and coached by Feidhlim Kelly, he has had a fine season with the highlight so far being his new Irish record of 13 minutes 1.41 seconds in Belgium a fortnight ago.

Early into the race, a group of eight led by John Travers formed at the front but bit by bit that group dwindled until there were only two and, from the bell, Fay burned off Cormac Dalton to triumph in 13:39.20.

If that was somewhat predictable, then Íde Nic Dhomhnaill’s victory in the women’s 5,000m was a surprise, even to herself.

The 38-year-old is from a family of runners but between her job as a teacher and being a parent of two young children her training has to be slotted into a busy schedule. Her biggest successes have been on the road but to run a tactically astute race and take over 17 seconds off her personal best on the track in a national final was something else.

Having her gold medal presented by Sonia O’Sullivan, who enjoyed her greatest days in the 5,000m, and whom Nic Dhomhnaill had never met before, was the icing on the cake.

Israel Olatunde (UCD) claims his 3rd consecutive 100m National Senior Title outdoors in top tier style (10.49)