As the New Year dawned, over eight months ago at this stage the aim for Frank Buchanan was to make the startline of the 1500m at the European U20 Athletics Championships in Finland.
The Athletics Ireland standard for Qualification to the Championships was considerably tougher at 3.44.00 as a “A “Standard or 2 B Standards of 3.46.50 than that of the European Athletics Standard of 3.47.50.
Buchanan had got close to the” B “standard on three or four occasions before hitting the mark at the in Belfast in June and met the criteria by attaining a second standard and just coming up five hundreds of a second short of the “A “mark in Watford on the 12th of July.
Following on from this there was the nervous wait to see if he got the nod from the selectors ten days later and was delighted when he got the email to confirm that he was on the Team for the Championships in early August.
The Enniskillen RC member was ranked 17th of the 25 confirmed entrants in the Men’s 1500m, with the heats timetabled in the morning session of day two of the four-day championships.
When the draw was made Frank was drawn in the second of the two heats with qualification set to make the Sunday’s final set as the first four in each of the races plus the next fastest four across the two races to make a twelve-person final.
After a quick opening heat in heat two knew they had it all to do if they were to gain a place in the final as the fastest qualifiers looked like they all would come from heat one such was the pace of that race. From the gun Frank got himself in a good position.
After the first 400m it was evident that only the top four from this race were the only ones that would race again on Sunday, so it was vital that Frank remained aware and fight for the good position he had made for himself.
As the bell sounded Frank needed to hold his ground as athletes hit the pace and the long run for the finish but despite the bumping and jostling the local man held his position and was in great position sitting on the shoulder of the leaders in third position with 200m remaining.
As the kickers rounded the final bend a few athletes came past Frank and try as he may down the final straight, he just hadn’t got the gears to get into a qualification spot when finishing eighth.
In his post-race interview with Athletics Ireland, Frank was very composed, mature and positive. His initial reaction was that of disappointment saying:
“I’m disappointed, I felt tactically was well positioned throughout and with 200m left I was third and in great position to strike off this, but unfortunately it just wasn’t there today in the closing stages. It was a great experience, but I will take the positives from this and look to improve on this the next time I make a championship in the green vest.”
He went on to say that this would not have been possible without his coaches and parents to whom he is extremely grateful too and looks forward to competing for Ireland at championships in years to come”.
Ulster & NI Ireland Senior Championships
Conditions were near perfect on Saturday for what was a poorly attended Senior Championships at the Mary Peters Track. Just over two hundred athletes competed in total and a sad reflection on the number of registered Senior athletes in the province who fail to put themselves forward to compete in what is supposed to be the centerpiece of the Senior Track & Field calendar in the province, something that needs to be addressed going forward.
Two local sprinters were amongst those who toed the line. In the Men’s 100m 16-year-old Jack O Connor competed well against his older peers in qualifying for the final as the fastest of the non-automatic qualifiers when placing second in his early morning heat in a time of 11.27 with only the winner making it directly into the final.
In the final O’Connor, drawn in lane seven reacted well to the gun but the power of the older stronger athletes showed in the second half of the race with Jack finishing an excellent 5th in time 11.21.
In the heats of the 400m Enniskillen Running Club’s James Nixon was below his best placing 5th. Nixon by all accounts has had a great season and will look to improve further in the Loughborough set up in his second year.
Masters’ athlete Denise Toner was a late withdrawal from the Women’s 800m. The Clones athlete woke up with a sore throat and after her warmup felt unable to race which was wise as she will be looking to recover to continue her preparations for the European masters in early October in Portugal.