Sarah Lavin lights up first day of National Senior Track and Field Championships

The 151st National Senior Track and Field Championships were among the most hyped of recent years, with Rhasidat Adeleke set to add stardust alongside double European Championship medallists Ciara Mageean and Mark English as the headline acts.

Each of the three was a late withdrawal for relatively vague reasons, and strong winds and one particularly heavy shower weren't conducive to personal bests and major championship qualification times.

Through it all, Sarah Lavin shone like a beacon. The popular star from Emerald AC, Limerick has been edging closer to Derval O’Rourke’s national 100m hurdle record of 12.65 seconds this season.

That was never a possibility today as she ran into a -5.1 metres per second headwind but she was technically excellent over the ten hurdles and claimed her eighth national outdoor title in 13.13.

Half an hour of selfies and autograph signing for young and old followed. She will take part in a strong race in Berne next Friday before heading to the Athletics Ireland holding camp ahead of the World Championships in Budapest next month.

If Lavin was a convincing winner, the closest race on the track was the men’s 110 metre hurdles where James Ezeonu dipped to win in 14.28 seconds, one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Gerard O’Donnell.

Andrew Coscoran dropped down to 800 metres and qualified for what promises to be an exciting final tomorrow, with Cian McPhillips, John Fitzsimons and Harry Purcell among the contenders as heat winners.

After respective heat wins, Sarah Healy will look to overturn her defeat to Sophie O’Sullivan at last month’s European Under-23 championships when they clash in tomorrow’s 1500m final.

Nineteen year-old Nicola Tuthill is among Ireland’s most promising competitors in the