 Ohuruogu in action in the 200m final at the Odyssey Arena |
Christine Ohuruogu was unable to register a victory in her two events at a low-key Woodie's DIY Irish Indoor Championships in Belfast. The Olympic 400m champion's sixth in the 60m was not a major surprise but she would have been expected to do better than third in the 200m. Irish pair Kelly Proper (24.10 secs) and Niamh Whelan (24.26) finished ahead of the Briton, who clocked 24.33. Ohuruogu, not helped by a terrible start, clocked 7.73 in the 60m final. That left her .42secs behind US winner Brianna Glenn who finished ahead of Whelan (7.50) and Ailis McSweeney (7.54) with Ohuruogu's training partner Anyika Onvora (7.64) in fifth. Ohuruogu played down her performances at the Odyssey Arena, which came a couple of days after her return from warm-weather training in South Africa.  | I could hear Roseanne getting closer to me all through the final lap 1500m winner Ciara Mageean |
"I'm just happy that I came over here. I had a really good reception and I've enjoyed it. "I've just came back from South Africa and stepped off a plane so what I run, is what I run." Local performance of the day was produced by Portaferry youngster Ciara Mageean who retained her 1500m title after holding off a determined challenge from Roseanne Galligan. The 16-year-old front-ran all the way but she ended the race sprawled on the track after needing to dip to hold off Galligan by .02secs. Mageean's time of 4:20.88 was a new Irish junior record and cut more than three seconds off her indoor personal best that she set when beating Galligan in last year's championship. "I didn't know whether I'd won it and I could hear Roseanne getting closer to me all through the final lap," said Mageean. "I was definitely aiming for a PB so I'm delighted." Mageean will next be in action in the British Age-Group Championships in Birmingham next weekend.  Ciara Mageean celebrates after retaining her 1500m title |
2006 world indoor champion Derval O'Rourke produced a season's best in the 60m hurdles but her time of 8.12 left her behind Britain's Gemma Bennett. O'Rourke's run was .28secs slower than her national record set three years ago. Paul Hession also had to settle for second in the men's 60m as his time of 6.71 left him .09secs behind former US Indoor champion Josh Norman. Other noteworthy performances included 14-year-old Katie Kirk's fourth place in the 800m. The teenager, daughter of former British international Mark Kirk, just missed out on a qualifying time for this year's European Youth Olympics as she clocked 2:13.18 but she will have other opportunities in the coming months. Kieran Kelly set a new Irish indoor shot putt record with a throw of 18.84m and will hope to achieve the European Indoor standard (19.00m) at next weekend's UK Championships in Sheffield. Belgrave Harrier Neil Speight had more than five seconds to spare as he won the 1500m in a championship record of 3:43.31. Scotland's 2006 Commonwealth silver medallist Chris Baillie took second in the 60m hurdles in 7.79, which left him .05secs behind American Eric Mitchum.
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