Sarah Lavin, although quick, was beaten by Charlene Maudsley in the women's 200m final at Santry on Saturday, a decision that proved decisive in Charlene's claim to the Tipperary native's national title.
Maudsley, who had fallen behind at the start, passed Lavigne in the home straight, making the race the highlight of the first day of the 123.ie National Athletics Championships at Morton Stadium.
The encounter pitted the raw speed of Lavigne, the second-fastest Irish woman in history over 100 metres, against the astonishing speed endurance of Maudsley, who has moved away from her 400-metre specialty.
Lavigne made an impressive turn to find herself just behind the leader, but in the second half of the race Maudsley showed her strength, passing her rival in 23.55 despite a strong 2.6 m/s headwind. Lavigne finished second in 23.80, with Lauren Roy third in 23.88.
“I’m really happy,” Mawdsley said. “Sarah did [well] and sometimes I get really nervous when someone catches me, but I’ve been training with girls this year who have beaten me in everything, so I was really happy to win. I’m in a weird transition period at the moment and I wanted to get down to the 200m and have some fun.”
Charlene Maudsley of Newport, Tipperary (centre) won gold, Sarah Lavin of Emerald, Limerick (silver) and Lauren Roy of Fast Twitch, bronze. Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.
Carlow-born Marcus Lawler, representing Clonliffe AC, took an impressive victory in the men's 200m, clocking 20.66 (0.4m/s), well ahead of Darragh McConville (21.41) and Adam Murphy (21.51).
“I was delighted with the run,” Lawler said. “It was a pretty good run overall for the season. I got off to a good start and wanted to attack in the first 50 metres, but I got into the straight really well and from there on I had to keep the speed up.”
The men's 800m offers an interesting prospect for Sunday evening, with Mark English and Sian McPhillips vying for the national title.
At 32, English is having a breakout season, setting five personal bests in the 800m, including his national record of 1:43.92.
He will be going for his 10th national outdoor title and will be the favourite but faces a stiff challenge from 23-year-old McPhillips, who is aiming for his first national outdoor title having set a personal best and recently won the Morton Games in 1:44.19.
Both men led their 800m heats comfortably, with English particularly coming through in the final 100m, clocking 1:48.92, while McPhillips finished strong with a time of 1:52.58.
“It's going to be great, it's going to be a good fight,” McPhillips said. “I'm looking forward to it.”
Another exciting duel is expected in the men's 1500m final, with Andrew Coscoran and Cathal Doyle likely to have the upper hand after both running confidently in their races on Saturday.
Paris Olympian Eric Favors produced a stunning performance in the men's shot put, winning gold with a throw of 19.58m, while teammate Niamh Fogarty won the women's shot put with a throw of 14.29m.
Farranfore's David Kenny was an impressive winner of the men's 10,000m race walk in 39:39.93, while West Waterford's Kate Vale took another title in the women's 5,000m race walk in 23:46.46.
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