“You control what you can control and don’t worry about things you can’t control”.

It might be the first rule of sports psychology but it was of little consolation for what happened last weekend.

Sunday’s 3:04.43 was a case of controlling all that could be controlled. It was a fantastic run which belies the time recorded. It was a focused, driven, team performance and despite our best efforts we were undone by what we couldn’t control - The Wind.

400m runners thrive on still days and favour a wind that blows down the back straight. What we got was a wind blowing down the home straight up 5.0 m/s. The 40m plus margin of victory was worthy of a top 16 team in the world. What it left us at the end of the day was an average of 18th position. 1/100th of second behind 17th place and less than 2/10ths of a second behind the crucial 16th spot. The day highlighted the inequity of the current relay qualification system where other teams improved their times in other races with superior competition and more favourable weather conditions.

We would like to thank everyone for their messages of support prior to the qualification attempts.

Brian Gregan equaled the Irish junior 400m record today when he finished third in the 400m in Mannheim, Germany in a time of 46:70.

The record was set back in 2000 by project400’s very own Gordon Kennedy. Gordon and the rest of the project400 team send their congratulations to Brian on his superb achievement. (more…)

This weekend, as part of the Irish teams participation in the European cup in Estonia, the project400 team members will attempt to gain qualification for the Beijing Olympic Games. In order to qualify, as it stands right now, the guys will need to run a time of 3:04.30 or better. This time combined with their 3:04.71 time from last week will be aggregated and will hopefully qualify the team for Beijing. (more…)

It’s all still to play for the Irish 4*400m team after a 3rd place 3:04.71 performance in Namur tonight. While the lads will have wanted a bit more from tonight, a time of 3:04.30 next weekend would see them inch into the top 16 list (as it currently stands).

Result
1) Belgium 3:02.16
2) South Africa 3:04.66
3) Ireland 3.04.71

Running Order:
1) Paul McKee
2) Gordon Kennedy
3) Brian Doyle
4) David Gillick

The lads would like to thank everyone for their kind messages of support and intend on making a big improvement in time next weekend in Estonia.

The day has finally arrived. After a Winter of training and planning, the Irish 4*400m team will be lining up for their first attempt at relay qualification for the Beijing Olympics.

This will be part 1 of 2. Qualification for the Olympic Games involves having the average of their 2 best times to rank them in the top 16 teams worldwide on the 19th of July. The boys have 2 races to get their 2 times so their is no margin for error. (All qualification times must be made at specially sanctioned races, hence the lack of potential races). As the list currently stands, the 16th ranked team have a time of 3.04.5 so the guys will need to get very close to the national record twice within the space of a week in order to get on the list.

No one is in any doubt that this will be an awesome challenge so the guys will need your support.

Please drop a few lines of encouragement in the comment box below and help Ireland qualify for the Olympics!

-Brian

Both David Gillick and Paul McKee were in action in the Golden Spike tour in Ostrava tonight.

Running from the unfavourable lane 8, David produced a fantastic last 100 to get up for a clear 2nd place in a season’s best equalling 45.65.

Paul lined up in the seldom run 300m alongside training partner and Irish 200m record holder Paul Hession and World 400m Champion Jeremy Wariner. Paul finished in 4th place in a personal best 33.33 while Hession claimed a fantastic new Irish record of 32.47.

The boys will travel on to Namur to meet up with the rest of the team to make their first qualification attempt at the 4*400m.

In Lapua yesterday, Gordon was drawn in the highly favorable lane 3 inside the fastest in the field . Despite running a sluggish first 200m, his top bend really brought him into the race and after taking the lead at the 80m mark it was a fight all the way home to hold this lead. Gordon crossed the line finishing in a seasons best of 46.81 and a new track record!

This rounds up Gordon’s first round of races and places him 3rd on the Irish rankings this year.

The Mens 4 * 4 team will meet in Namur where they will attempt to qualify for this year’s Olympics.

Irish Team for Namur

David Gillick
Paul Mckee
Gordon Kennedy
Brian Doyle
Brian Gregan

Hey Everyone,

Its been a good start to the season for me. After delaying my start to the season with the flu I ran at the Bedford International Games last week. I placed second with by far my fastest opening time of 47.25. It’s actually my third fastest time ever so it was a positive start to the season.

This weekend I ran in the British Athletics League for my UK club Harrow. This time I dropped down a distance and ran the 200m. I was really pleased with this run as it was 21.48 and I did it from lane one. Hopefully I should go faster from a better lane next time.

Looking forward to the rest of the season, especially next weekend in Namur!

Belated congratulations to Nick Hogan and Brian Gregan in breaking 48 seconds for the first time. Brian broke the barrier at the Leinster schools championships while Nick did so last weekend in Geneva.

Nick and Brian’s profiles will be added to the site shortly.

On Monday Brian Murphy will return to Montegordo for another warm weather training stay, after a full week back in Ireland. This time however, Brian will be joined by his fellow project400 members, Paul McKee and Brian Doyle.

At Montegordo, they will rejoin Gordon Kennedy, who had stayed on while Brian flew home last week. However, they will not be the only Irish athletes this time at the renowned training facility, as the AAI have organized a special training camp and there will be many other athletes in attendance for the 2 week stay.

Among those expected to attend will be fellow project400 member David Gillick who will fly out later in the week as well as Paul Hession and many other stars of the Irish athletics team.

Stay tuned for even more reports, photos and stories from the training camp.