John Travers may have finished only 6^th in Friday evening’s prestigious Morton Mile at Santry (Morton Games 11/07/14), but his new personal best time of 3.55.44 needs to be put into context. This was the 29^th running of the event and John’s time would have won every Morton Mile since Eamonn Coghlan’won in a time of 3.53.48 back in 1983. It should be noted that that was the same year that Coghlan went on to win the World 5.000m gold medal. The only other occasions that the Morton Mile was run quicker than the time achieved by Travers on Friday evening were by New Zealander John Walker, the 1976 1500m Olympic Champion, in 1977 with a time of 3.52.0 and by the legendary Steve Scott of the USA, silver medallist at the 1983 1500m and holder of a record 136 sub-4 minute miles, who won the 1981 ‘Morton’ in 3.54.76.

John thus becomes the 51^st Irishman to break the 4 minute barrier, but his time puts him 16^th on the Irish all-time list ahead of legends such as Ron Delany, Frank Murphy and Gerry Kiernan (John’s coach).

The race itself was star-studded with 12 sub-4 minute milers on the start line. John was one of just 6 home based athletes to compete against the strong international field. For the first two laps it looked as though our man Travers was out of his league. He completed the first lap of 409m in 0.59. He was 16^th. The quick tempo at the front was maintained, but John kept in touch with the main field passing the two lap marker in 1.54 and having gained slightly to 13^th position. On the back straight of the 3^rd lap he suddenly began to move through the field and he hit the bell in 2nd position in a time of 2.55. “I just felt great out there” said a delighted John afterwards. He had the crowd on their feet as he continued to thrust forward like a man on a mission. At the beginning of the back straight for the final time Travers was in the lead – by one metre, by two metres, by three metres… “He’s never going to hold it! – or is he?” was the aghast expression of Damian Allen as the crowd were enthralled by John’s fleet footed movement and audacious run to the front. The Donore Harriers supporters who witnessed this great race dared to dream, but 150 metres remained… But suddenly he was like a boxer on the ropes!

The final 150 metres was probably the gutsiest that Travers has ever run. He had to dig deep and just keep going. The big guns came and swept past, but John still had his mission! Will Leer of the USA won in a championship best time of 3.51.82. Leer is the USA Indoor Champion for the One Mile and 3.000m in 2013 and was a 1500m finalist at the last World Athletics championship. Second was Patrick Casey (3.52.62) of the USA. Casey won the silver medal in the recent American 1500m championship. Third was Corey Leslie, another American, in 3.53.44 with Zane Robertson of New Zealand 4^th in 3.53.72.

And John Travers! He held on bravely for an excellent 6^th place and he was the only Irishman to break the 4 minute mark. But John had another mission! He passed the 1500m mark (3.37.7) some two seconds inside the qualifying time for next month’s European Track and Field championships to be held in Zurich.

Brilliant! Just brilliant!

Here is a link to the race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H-LDGjFoxI

Ray Hynes also took to the track at the Morton Games competing in the 3.000m and aiming for a Personal Best. A strong field ensured a quick early pace and Ray had to run his opening two laps in 62 and 64 seconds to stay in contact with the main bunch. This early pace would later take its toll as Ray faded in the second half of the race to finally place 18^th in 8.33.69, some 15 seconds short of his best time. The race was won by Juan Luis Barrios of Mexico in a stadium best time of 7.44.21. It should be considered that Ray missed a large part of his winter conditioning training due to injury. However he continues to return to his previous best form. Ray will be hoping for a better outcome at the National 3.000m steeplechase at Santry next weekend.

At the Dublin Open Graded meeting No. 6 at Irishtown on Wednesday evening (9/7/14) a good contingent of Donore Harriers athletes took to the start line. Results are as follows: -

400m ‘A’: – 4^th David Campbell (53.00)

800m ‘B1: – 8^th Paul Cummins (2.10.84 thru 400 in 60)

800m ‘B2’: – 1^st Emmet O’Briain M35 (2.03.04 thru 400 in 61) PB; 4^th Henry English M35 (2.05.30 thru 400 in 62)

800m ‘B3’: – 8^th Luke Boland (2.11.03 thru 400 in 63)

800m ‘D’: – 1^st Killian O’Hora (2.09.05 thru 400 in 63) PB

5.000m ‘B’ Race: – 2^nd Michael McMahon (15.52.56); 5^th John Dunne M35 (16.05.18); 6^th Chris Muldoon M35 (16.12.11); 9^th Fergal Whitty M35 (16.18.88); 11^th Ken Norgrove M45 (16.35.77) 13^th Cathal McCarron (16.41.36); 14^th Darren Hand (16.41.88).

In the Women’s 400m ‘B’ race Claire O’Connor Jnr came 5^th in 2.30.5 thru 400 in 71.

In the Letterkenny AC Sub-4 Challenge Track event on Sunday (13/7/14) Eric Keogh (8.40.46) won a competitive 3000m race, run in gale force conditions.

At the BUPA Great Nortk 10km at Gateshead, also on Sunday, Lee Van Haeften (31.54) came an excellent 10^th in a high-calibre field and recorded a new Personal Best time for the distance despite a testing course and wet, blustery conditions. The race was won by Stephen Kiprotich (29.39) from Uganda. Lee will line up with team-mates John Dunne, Michael McMahon and Mark Dooley in next Saturday’s National Track 10.000m championship.

Daragh Fitzgibbon (15.56) ran out an easy winner in Saturday’s Donadea 5km race (12/7/14) organized by Donadea Wheelers.

In the inaugural Castleknock 5km (13/7/14) Garvan Smith M40 came 3^rd in 17.15. The other Donore Harriers to finish included: – 22^nd Bernard Byrne (19.05); 24^th Niall O’Reilly M35 (19.18); 43^rd Jack Raftery <Juv> (19.59); 57^th Declan Raftery M40 (20.43); 122^nd Ronan McCooey <Juv> 23.06 and 123^rd Ciaran McCooey (23.06).

At the Kinnegad GFC 5k, Barbara Cleary had another victory to her name – breaking the course record to be first lady in 16.50 and 7th overall.  (Unfortunately there were problems with timing on the night – hand timing was used so some of the results below are reckoned to be out of sequence or slower than actual) Next in was Anne Curley in 19.10, Maura kearns 19.14 and Sam Conroy in 20.39 – their indefatigable coach Jim McNamara finished in 21.58.