Irish women set two new relay records
Both of the Ireland women's relay teams just missed out on qualification for their respective finals at the European Championships in Barcelona this morning, but they had the consolation of setting new national records.
The Irish 4x100 metres quartet of Amy Foster, who ran the first leg, Niamh Whelan, Claire Brady and anchor Ailis McSweeney put in a storming run to set a new national record of 43.93 seconds in fourth place.
Their time beat the previous mark of 44.27, set by Brady, Derval O'Rourke, Whelan and Kelly Proper in Geneva in June.
But it was not enough to secure a fastest loser spot in the final, with Belgium (43.82) and Sweden (43.90) gaining those places from the second semi-final.
Although the national record is a great fillip, the Irish girls will be hugely disappointed to miss the final by just three hundredths of a second.
McSweeney, the 100m semi-finalist, ran a superb final leg to eat up the ground on third-placed Spain and finish ahead of both Lithuania and Italy.
The Cork woman has been one of Ireland's best athletes at these Championships, missing out on a place in the 100m final by just one hundredth of a second and playing a pivotal role in the relay national record.
The quality of the Irish display is telling, given that the likes of Italy (44.15), Germany (disqualified) and Britain (44.09) failed to qualify. A Slovenian team including the 50-year-old Merlene Ottey also finished behind Ireland in the first heat.
Just over an hour later, the Irish women's 4x400m relay team broke the four-year national record when attempt to qualify for their final.
Marian Andrews, who is married to race walker Rob Heffernan, led them off with a solid first leg, and Joanne Cuddihy and Brona Furlong kept them within reach of the top three teams.
However, on the anchor leg, Michelle Carey, despite a determined effort, could not fight off Romania and the Ukraine in the closing 100 metres. Ireland's fifth place finish, in a new national record time of 3:30.11, was not enough to get them through.
The Irish management will be delighted with the 4x400m team's performance, especially as they shaved almost a second-and-a-half off the previous best (3:31.51), which was set by Carey, Elaine McCaffrey, Ciara Sheehy and Cuddihy.
Meanwhile, the Irish men's 4x400 metres relay team also bowed out of their semi-final, with national record holder David Gillick a notable absentee.
Gillick, after his exertions in last night's 400m final, did not participate in this morning's relay heat, forcing a change on the anchor leg with 200m specialist Steven Colvert drafted in.
The Irish foursome of lead man Gordon Kennedy, Brian Murphy, Brian Gregan and Colvert came home in sixth place - 3:07.21 - and out of contention for qualification.
Tullamore Harrier Kennedy, the national champion, ran an excellent first leg to put the Irish second in the field, but by the time Colvert took the baton, the leading teams had broken away.
