National Track & Field: McElhinney eases to 5,000m win

The 150th National Track and Field championships were dogged by very strong winds and occasional squally showers which meant that personal bests and qualifications for international championships were never likely but they burst to life in the concentrated final couple of hours of track finals.

The men's 5,000 metres was as good as it gets. Three laps in, Efrem Gidey, the national 5K champion on the road, injected some serious pace and after he briefly opened up a 10-metre lead - the field of 22 was splintered with a lead group of seven. Darragh McElhinney, the 21-year old who won silver at last December's European Under-23 cross country championships, always looked comfortable.

When the lead group was down to three, McElhinney was still there, a stride behind Gidey with Hiko Tonosa in third. McElhinney made his move with 270 metres to go and while Tonosa tried to go with him he never drew level and McElhinney looked like a racing thoroughbred as he stopped the clock at 13:53.84. The future is bright for the man from Glengarriff.

Another gripping finish came in the women's 400 metres which was, as predicted, a close one between Sophie Becker and Phil Healy. Becker went out really hard over the first 250 and her strength down the home straight was just enough to hold off Healy. With Chris O'Donnell impressing again in winning the men's 400 metres (46.82) ahead of Marcus Lawler, the Irish squad for the mixed 4x400 metres which reached the final at the Tokyo Olympics is looking promising for the summer championships.

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