The 67th Cork City Sports, A Classic
And so the curtain falls on the 67th Cork City Sports, an event that many commentators are saying was one of the best since the 1980’s. The standard of international competition was exceptionally high with elements of local and national interest thrown in for good measure.
The biggest story of the night was when local athlete Phil Healy from Bandon went toe to toe with some of the best in the world and put on an amazing performance by setting a new Irish record and becoming the first Irish female athlete to break 23.00 secs in the womens 200M. Phil finished second in the 100M and third in the 200M in some of the finest international fields ever assembled on Irish soil. She can now look forward to the European Championships next month with a real chance of making a final and possibly a medal.
Crystal Emmanuel CAN dominated the womens sprints taking both the 100M and 200M in world class times of 11.25 and 22.75. Crystal has won the 200M two years running and is one of the best female sprinters in the world.
Another local interest story was the performance of Sophie O Sullivan in the junior 1500M. Sophie showed real guts in taking the title from a determined Stephanie Cotter in a time of 4.22.22.
In the mens sprints Marcus Lawler was superb in finishing second in the 200M with a new personal best of 20.40 taking him from fifth to second place on the Irish all time list, only one tenth of a second behind Paul Hession.
In the mens sprints Emile Erasmus RSA came tantalizingly close to the 10 second barrier winning the 100M in 10.14 so near to the meeting record of 10.12. Rasheed Dwyer took second place and Winston George third. Sydney Siame ZAM was supreme in the 200M setting a new meeting record of 20.18 from Irelands Marcus Lawler and a stellar field.
The womens 800M saw Laura Roesler defend the title she won last year from a large field. The mens 800M was a tremendous race and was one of the fastest 800M races ever run in this country. It was won by Ryan Sanchez PUR in an incredibly fast time of 1.45.73. A time worthy of any Diamond League race. This was the performance of the meeting gaining Sanchez the John O Jagoe trophy for “Athlete of the Meeting”.
In the field events both Chuk Enekwechi USA in the shot putt and Ida Storm SWE in the hammer retained their titles from last year. Enekwechi won from Canadian champion Tim Nedow and Storm won from fellow Swedish athlete Treacy Anderson.
The final event of the night was the mile and it was another record breaker with ten athletes breaking the magical 4 minute barrier. The race was won by defending champion Sam Prakel USA in 3.56.09 from Drew Piazza USA and Sam McEntee AUS. Several athletes broke the 4 minutes for the first time in the race including Corey Bellemore CAN and Jamie Williamson GER.
All involved with the event are proud of the performances put on by the athletes at this years meeting. The international reputation of the Cork City Sports has definitely been enhanced by this years performances.
