Andrew Coscoran and Sharlene Mawdsley turn in strong performances at Grand Slam Track in Philadelphia
In a slow race in the men's 3000m, where 2000m was reached in just 5:40, the gears began to shift on the penultimate lap and Coscoran positioned himself perfectly, poised to strike, but simply didn't have the gears down the home straight to match the surge of USA's Nico Young, who took victory in 8:01.03 after a 53-second last lap.
Coscoran had pocketed $50,000 at the last Grand Slam Track meeting in Miami after finishing second overall in the long-distance category, which comprised the 3000m and 5000m. But the 5000m was dropped from the programme for the Philadelphia meeting, the event shortened from three days to two. With the prize money also halved, he earned $12,500 for his fourth-place finish.
Mawdsley earned $15,000 for her sixth-place finish in the long sprints category, with victory going to Olympic 400m champion Marileidy Paulino. On Saturday, Mawdsley finished fifth in the 400m in a season's best of 51.12, a race won by Paulino in 49.12, with Olympic silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain crossing the line second but later disqualified for a lane infringement.
Meanwhile, Chris Jeuken and Evelyn Twomey claimed decisive victories at the Cork City Marathon on Sunday morning, clocking 2:18:55 and 2:54:30 respectively to both win by several minutes.
Leevale's Niamh Allen turned in the performance of the day to win the women's half marathon, the 30-year-old clocking a big personal best of 1:10:06, which brought her home almost 10 minutes clear of the runner-up. Jake O'Regan of St. John's AC won the men's half marathon in 1:06:51.
Fearghal Curtin turned in a commanding display to win the men's 10K, the Youghal athlete dominating the race from the outset and winning in 29:46. There was a podium sweep for Leevale AC in the women's 10K, where Hannah Steeds won in 34:51 with 2016 Olympian Lizzie Lee second in 35:30.
The day was marred by tragedy, however, after it was confirmed that a woman in her 20s, who had participated in the half marathon, died after becoming unwell at the finishing line on Patrick's Street at around 1pm.
At the VHI Women's Mini Marathon in Dublin, Kilkenny's Grace Richardson followed in the footsteps of her older sister Aoibhe – a winner in 2018 – and led home the 28,000-strong field, hitting the finish in 34:17 with Claire Fagan of Mullingar second in 34:25 and Jessica Craig third in 34:55.
At the All Ireland Schools Championships in Tullamore on Saturday, Seán Doggett of Coláiste an Éachréidh underlined his vast potential when clocking a superb championship record of 47.22 to win the senior boys' 400m, breaking Brian Gregan's mark of 47.66 which had stood since 2008.
The best race of the championships was likely the intermediate girls' 3000m, which involved a last-lap duel between Emma Hickey (St. Marys New Ross) and Freya Renton (Sacred Heart Westport).
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Hickey struck for home with half a lap left and clocked a blazing 9:28.14 to take 21 seconds off the championship record, with Renton clocking 9:33.87 in second. Later in the day, they clashed over 1500m, with Renton turning the tables and winning in 4:30.59.
The senior 100m titles went to Cillian Doherty (Belvedere College) in 10.86 and Elena O'Sullivan (Regina Mundi Cork) in 11.96, while Ben Skyes (Grosvenor GS Belfast) was an especially impressive winner of the intermediate boys' 100m in 10.72. European U18 champion Thomas Williams (Colaiste Dun an Ri Kingscourt) dominated the senior boys' hammer throw with a best of 62.30m.
On Friday night, Séamus Clarke (St. Muredach's College Ballina) broke Colin Griffin's 25-year-old record in the senior boys 3000m walk, clocking 11:57.47. Cillian Gleeson (Coláiste Chíaráin Leixlip) made a bold, brave effort to try to break the most fabled schools record on the books – John Treacy's senior boys' 5000m record of 14:17.0 from 1974 – but came up just short, clocking 14:19.66.
Elsewhere, Cian Crampton broke the Irish U-20 discus record at the Pickering Memorial International in Loughborough, throwing 58.32m.
Looking ahead, Mark English will be back in action in Quercia, Italy on Monday evening, three days on from breaking his Irish 800m record to win at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Bydgoszcz, Poland, where he clocked 1:44.34.
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