Conall Mahon in action
Conall Mahon took international universities honours at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast last weekend. The Irvinestown triple jumper saw off Scottish opposition to take gold with a leap close to his personal best.
“Coming into it I hadn’t been jumping great. I knew I could jump well from training. I knew I was stronger and faster than I had been. But then it’s a matter of getting a jump on the board,” said Mahon.
“The first round I fouled it by a couple of centimetres, but I got it measured and I’d jumped a personal best. It gave me confidence to know I have a really big jump inside me.
“My second last jump was 14.05 and my last jump was 14.10 so I was happy with that. It was annoying in a way and it was good in a way. I know I’m faster, I know I’m stronger, that should equal a longer distance, so then it’s just a thing of staying relaxed and not trying to force it too much. It’s just a matter of keeping on trying.
“Triple jump is quite a rhythmic event so it usually takes a couple of weeks to get into the flow. You always have this thing in the back of your head that you’re going to jump a personal best when you come into a competition, but it doesn’t tend to work out like that.”
This weekend sees the NUI Galway student donning the Liverpool Harriers bib as he travels to Southampton to compete. It was the Irvinestown man’s friendship with Ciaran Dolan which saw him team up with the Mersey club, a common destination for Irish athletes competing on the other side of the Irish Sea. Dolan also wears Harriers colours and contacted Mahon to see if he would be interested in representing them.
“It’s the division one national league. It’s not really that important in terms of getting a position, but it’s more about getting a personal best,” said Mahon.
For Mahon, the key focus all year has been the All-Ireland u-23 championships in Tullamore. They take place on 5 July and the Fermanagh man’s plans have all been geared around getting the best possible jump out of himself when he travels to the Offaly venue.
Mahon is unambiguous in his desire to capture national gold, a significant marker in his last season before he hits the senior ranks proper.
“We have talked about 14.50 all year,” said Mahon. “I’m trying to get that and hopefully we can kick on from there. You can go into events with a certain distance in your head and on the day you could just jump something really bit. It’s hard to know what you’ll end up with. Hopefully I can try and get 14.50 by the time of the under 23s and after that I could look to go a little further.”
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