Mark Hoy on his way to 800 metres gold at the Mary Peters track last weekend. Picture: Keith McClure
Fermanagh’s Mark Hoy retained his Ulster Senior men’s 800m title in a tactical final at the Ulster and NI championships at the Mary Peters track last weekend.
“It turned out to be quite a straightforward affair,” said Hoy. “I was a strong favourite going in to the race but there were a few guys there who could have caused an upset.
“The weather was great, quite windy but warm and dry. Last year we could have just as easily swam round the track it was that wet. I qualified with no real issues and focused on expending as little energy as possible.
“For the final then it turned into a tactical type race. The first lap went out very slow, 63 seconds for 400m, compared to two weeks ago when I ran my PB. In that race we went through 400m in 53 seconds.
“From there I just wound up the pace and went through the gears to pull away from the group to win by a fair margin. The winning time was only 1.58.0. But considering the slow first lap I was happy to run a negative split, second lap faster than the first, and use the event as a good work out.
“Things are going well for me and I’m looking forward to a good summer ahead,” said Hoy.
Youth success
Other young Fermanagh athletes were also podium finishers. On Saturday ERC trained juniors Ryan Flanagan won silver in U18 men’s 3000m.
After her bronze medal in Irish schools over 3k the previous weekend; Edel Monaghan also won silver in the girls U18 1,500m.
On Sunday it was the turn of the younger runners where Aoife Farrell and Abbie Barrett had tremendous runs at U15 800m. While Lucia Warnock from Tempo won silver in the Ulster U16 girls 800m final. All junior runners ran personal bests.
Posted: 4:47 pm June 11, 2015