| DSD Preview of 2008 |
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| Written by Alan. | |
| Monday, 31 December 2007 | |
An athletes view of the possibilities - by John EvesWith 2008 almost upon us Alan asked me to put together a DSD-centric preview of the upcoming year in athletics. As with every leap year since 1896, one event looms large on the horizon for not only the athletics world, but basically the entire universe - the ESB National League final. The AAI have for once done us the courtesy of publishing the date for said league final, so everyone can stick the date in their diary...and then spend the next 8 months either training hard attempting to obtain Olympic qualification so they won't have to run in the league, or thinking just as hard of a plausible excuse so they won't have to run in the league. Coming a close second in terms of global media coverage will be the Olympics in Beijing in August. Currently we have David Gillick qualified with an "A" standard of 45.23 in the 400m and Deirdre Ryan with  a "B" standard of 1.92m in the high jump. Every Olympiad it seems that our very own blazer brigade in the OCI do their best to scupper the best laid plans of athletes when selecting the latest crop of Olympians. Lest we forget it was only 2004 when Maria Mc Cambridge achieved qualification in the 5000m with a stunning run in Heusden, Belgium, only to discover that the OCI had shortened the Olympic qualification window by approximately 2 weeks. One can only hope and pray that neither David nor Deirdre suffer such ignominies. With eight months until the opening ceremony there is still plenty of  time for others to book their spots in Beijing. Resisting the urge to name names, I can foresee DSD having perhaps four representatives flying the tricolour in China. Of course we also shouldn't forget about our former DSD member Mark Donlon - East Leinster Schools 800m champion in 1999 - who is currently cycling from Dublin to Beijing. His progress should be an inspiration to all of us, and can be followed at www.biketobeijing2008.com.On the domestic front the big events as always will be National Indoors in the Odyssey, the Inter Club cross country in Queens, National Track and Field Championships and of course the aforementioned League.  The National Indoors will provide our sprinters with a long awaited competition outlet, and the Odyssey really is a top class venue for such an event. I have to confess a shortage of knowledge on the current status of our sprinters, but I can verify that Nick Hogan and Micheal Kennedy were spotted at bag packing a few weeks ago, and if bag packing is any indication of athletic form, then we should be expecting news of pbs in coming weeks.In a previous publication of my drivel, I issued a call to arms for the National Inter Clubs on March 1. This I suppose is the second call. No doubt there will be a third. Rebecca, Charlotte and Suzanne should take care of business for the junior girls - hard to believe that all of these girls  will still be juniors in 2009! And their ambitions won't end at retaining a National title but also a European title as defending champions in the European Clubs Championships. As for the junior men, having such illustrious names as Brendan O Neill, Eoin Healy and Eoin Mc Cormack graduate to senior level in the past few years, leaves them a little short of a big hitter up front, but Eddie no doubt will work his magic to produce a solid team come March 1. (Click on Thumbnails)
             Come this time next year I hope I can look back on a year when DSD contributed 4 more Olympians to the Irish roster, a year when Gillick went sub 45 and caps it all in style in China, our junior girls go 1-2-3 at National and European level, the women crush all opposition at the Nationals and move into 2009 gunning for a European title, and last but not least, our senior men's squad gets the job done!Happy New Year to all. |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 January 2008 ) |