The National Senior Indoor championships took place this weekend in Abbotstown and featured some excellent performances from Craughwell AC Athletes. 

Jack Miskella made Sunday’s final in the 1500m by running 4.01 in a hard-fought heat on Saturday.  The final had a very evenly matched field and the race was very closely packed.  In a ferocious sub-60s last 400m, Jack moved from last place to 5th with a near-pb of 3:56.09. This was Jack’s best ever finish in a national senior final. Watch Jack’s full race below:

Sinead Gaffney got the action off in heat 1 of the Women’s 800m.  Sinead went to the back of the large field at the break and left herself a lot to do. As the laps went past she worked her way up, often in lanes 2 or 3 as she passed athletes.  In the end she finished with a very fine 2:18 6th place finish.  Watch Sinead’s race here.

Sean Cotter was in head 1 of the men’s 800m alongside triple-european medallist Mark English.  Sean is a distance and cross country specialist and his first 800m in over a year was a shock to the system.  Running strongly throughout, Sean finished in 5th place with an indoor personal best of 1:58.19.  Watch Sean’s race here.

Kyle Moorhead is much more accustomed to the 800m and went with the leaders in heat 2.  From the 400m mark the pace stepped up hugely and Kyle made a big push to pass the leader (Estonian national record holder Jake Bagge) around the outside.  Bagge defended his line and just on the final bend Kyle got overtaken on the inside by 1:50 man Kevin McGrath to take the final automatic qualifying slot.  It was a super run from Kyle but unfortunately due to the slower first lap, not enough to make the final. Watch Kyle’s race here. It was a race to take huge confidence from – Kyle is definitely at the level of the guys and with a little more experience and a pinch of luck will be ready to earn his seat at the top table!

The 3000m was an exceptional race, featuring a fascinating duel up front between European u20 Champion Nick Griggs and young Cork Superstar Darragh McElhinney.  William Fitzgerald of Craughwell AC set a new club record finishing 9th in 8:25, closely followed by Patrick Noonan in 8:34. William felt he paced the race about perfectly, whereas Patrick felt he went out a little too conservatively. The race, especially the final lap is well worth a look – watch it here! Darragh’s stunning last 200m would not have looked out of place in the finals of the 400m! Knowing the quality of the lads he is breezing past on the final lap brings home the quality of his kick. The world doesn’t know yet how good Darragh is.. we can be super-proud of him. I really can’t wait for the day we get to see him unleash that kick on a world class field!

Sinéad Treacy battled hard in the 400m to make the semi-final with a fine 57s outing.  In the semi-final, the club 400m record holder couldn’t quite find her usual rhythm and finished with 58s, just shy of a final berth on this occasion.  Sinead’s times were a little shy of her brilliant 56.47s best on this occasion, but still faster than anyone not called Sinead Treacy has ever ran in Craughwell AC!