Athletics: Fagan surpasses Treacy's record
Monday March 16 2009
Mullingar distance star Martin Fagan has finally broken John Treacy's Irish half-marathon record, knocking three seconds off it to set a new national record of 60 minutes and 57 seconds in The Hague.
Fagan led the race through the 10k mark in 28:34, but was eventually fifth in a world-class race won by Kenya's Sammy Kitawara in 59:47 personal best after a sprint finish with Haile Gebrselassie (59:50).
The most promising of the next generation of Irish distance-runners, Waterford's David McCarthy, was desperately unlucky at the NCAA Indoors in Texas, missing out on a bronze medal in the mile by five hundredths of a second.
Green Dragon proves nifty in Furious Fifties
Gale force winds in the Southern Ocean are sweeping the Volvo Ocean Race fleet towards the Cape Horn as the leading boats surf down 20-ft high waves in the region known as the 'Furious Fifties'.
Ireland's Green Dragon halved its deficit to current stage leader, Magnus Olsen, on Ericsson 3 and last night Ian Walker's crew were 200 miles astern, an improvement of almost 300 miles since Friday.
The Galway boat has also had the best 24-hour runs with close to 500-miles recorded each day.
Olsen now faces a duel from stable-mate Torben Grael, the skipper of the overall leading boat Ericsson 4 just 34-miles behind while American Ken Read on Puma Ocean Racing trails by just 87 miles.
Kuerten claims silver in Italy
Jessica Kuerten was runner-up in the Grand Prix at Arezzo in Italy yesterday while Irish riders were also in the spotlight in the USA, Spain and Portugal over the weekend.
Kuerten slotted Quibell into runner-up having steered Cadeau Z into fourth in Friday's Two-Phase.
During the penultimate week of the winter series at Wellington in Florida, Pennsylvanian-based Kevin Babington finished third in Thursday's Grand Prix.
America's Beezie Madden and Onlight produced the only double-clear, and Babington and Caracas lined up behind Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa and Let's Fly, who also had one down in the four-horse jump-off.
Corkman, Shane Sweetnam, and Little Emir finished fifth.
Ulster complete title triumph after thriller
The interprovincial championship concluded with a goal glut yesterday as Ulster and Munster shared 10 scores in a 5-5 draw at Garryduff, with the northerners winning a trophy that may not be contested next season.
Leinster could only look on glumly as they counted the cost of a tournament that almost certainly brought a halt to Joe Brennan's season after he suffered an injury to his knee.
- ATHLETICS SAILING EQUESTRIAN HOCKEY
