Saturday, August 8, 2015

World Masters Track & Field Championships, Lyon 2015

Maria McCarthy Silver Medal in World Masters
W40 5000m Track
The World Masters Track & Field Championships in Lyon, France is underway with a magnificent tally of 70 Athletes registered to compete for Ireland, which is a record entry for a European or World Masters Champs. There are a significant number of Athletes competing for the first time also. Amongst those is our very own Maria McCarthy.

On Friday 7th August Maria prepared herself for her very first World Championship event when she was representing Ireland in the W40 5000m distance. With temperatures reaching 38oC and the high humidity added to the challenge. Due to the high entry numbers for this event they were two 5000m finals with the winners decided on time. The races were seeded so Maria was placed with the fastest athletes on the second race. A number of these competed in the Olympics not that long ago.
Maybe there was a bit of irish luck, but just 10mins before race start a dark thunder cloud covered over the intense heat from the sun which was a welcome comfort for the Irish athletes. The eleven strong runners started off, Maria and another irish athlete, Cathy McCourt, amongst the front group. Not long into the race the field began to spread out as the searing heat took its toll. All athletes were finding the heat difficult with the pace a lot slower than normal. With 3 laps to go, Maria was in 2nd place just behind a Finland athlete and looking very comfortable. Cathy McCourt 100m behind in 3rd place. Maria made an attack for first place but the Finland athlete had enough to keep in the lead. And so it finished with Maria taking 2nd place in the race. 
This race was the fastest of the two finals, so it was official that Maria McCarthy had won her very first Individual Worlds silver medal. This has been a roller coaster of a year for Maria and we are all so very proud of her. 
She is a dedicated athlete and an excellent coach.
 1  1578 Tukiainen, Paula   W40 Finland               18:43,47   2 
  2  5219 McCarthy, Maria    W40 Ireland               18:55,63   2 
  3  5216 Mc Court, Cathy    W42 Ireland               19:35,59   2

Maria will have a few days rest before she competes in the 1500m heats on Wednesday 12th with the finals on Friday 14th. We wish her all the best.

Congratulations also to Niamh O'Sullivan (An Riocht) who competed in the 8000m cross country, she finished in 4th place, but was part of the Irish team to win silver. Niamh also competed in the O50 5000m track and ran a great race to win Bronze. Well done.