Track stars Ohuruogu and Hession lead Odyssey Showpiece
Beijing Olympic’s 400metres champion Christine Ohuruogu and Irish Olympic sprint semi-finalist Paul Hession will be in the main stars at this weekend’s 6th Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor Athletic Championships at the Odyssey Arena Belfast. (Main event start at 4:30pm on Saturday and 1.00pm on Sunday)
Funding partners include Belfast City Council and Sport Northern Ireland while DCAL and Premier Inn have also come on board. The prestigious event is organised by Athletics Northern Ireland and Athletics Ireland.
All eyes will of course be on British Athlete of the Year
Christine Ohuruogu in her first competitive of the year over both 60m and 200m. Belfast is indeed privileged to see such a star athlete in action as the 24 year old Newham athlete races very sparingly. Indeed last summer her rare low key outings led many to believe that she stood little chance of defeating hot US favourite Sanya Richards in the Olympic final. However Christine’s emphatic victory again proved that her single minded approach to major championships (she had already won the World title in Osaka the previous year) had once again paid off in handsome style.
Ohuruogu, who has only recently arrived in the UK from warm weather training in South Africa says she is looking forward to the Odyssey outing which fits in perfectly with her racing plans at this time of the year. Her next outing will be in Birmingham in two weeks.
The Olympic Champion will however have to be at her best in the 60m to defeat last year’s Odyssey winner and training partner Anyika Onuora who won in 7.38 seconds ahead of Leevale’s Ailis McSweeney and Ballymena’s Anna Boyle both of whom will also be racing this weekend along with junior star Niamh Whelan.
In the Men’s 60 metres Athenry’s Paul Hession who is currently based in Scotland will be hoping to add to his tally of no less than 5 Irish records, one of which was set at the Odyssey 2 years ago at 6.63 seconds. Irish Track Athlete of the Year Hession excelled himself in Beijing where he narrowly missed out on a place in the 200m final when Jamaica’s Usain Bolt set a world record.
Paul, who will be competing in Turin’s European Indoor Championships in March will be racing against former US indoor champion Josh Norman whom he defeated in Sweden on Tuesday night.
Former World Indoor hurdles champion Derval O’Rourke is not presently is not presently in the sort of form that saw her break the Irish record here 3 years ago with a stunning 7.90 seconds. However her coach Sean Cahill is confident of good performances in Belfast on the back of solid training sessions following a long period of injury.
Other performers to keep an eye on this weekend include Togher AC’s Robert Heffernan who broke the Irish 5K Walk record at the Odyssey a year ago, Dundrum’s Deidre Ryan who recently seta new Irish high jump record of 1.93m, teenage star Ciara Mageean in the 1500m and Ferrybank’s Kelly Proper who broke her Irish long jump record here a year ago.
Many of this weekend’s spectators will of course have a particular interest in the 600 age group and primary school athletes, most of whom will be experiencing their only indoor competition of the year. The yearly increase in entries shows that the popularity of indoor athletics shows no signs of waning. The organizers have pulled out all the stops to make this a spectacular event.
The dedicated website provides all competitors and spectators information on the event including the schedule, accommodation, athlete profiles and a photo gallery. Visit www.indoorathletics.net
Action gets under way at 4:30pm on Saturday and 1:00pm on Sunday. The event will be shown on RTE on Monday 9th February. Tickets are available at the Odyssey Box Office or through Ticketmaster. |
