Here we are at the start of another season . Another winter has come and gone and yes we’ve all aged another year but we’re at the begining of another fantastic season. Another day has dawned on Irish 400m running. Last year we had the privillage of seeing Brian Gregan make the Final of the World juniors and also a promising junior 4*400m relay team . The Leaps and bounds have being massive in 12 months.

This weekend coming is the Schools All Ireland which will see a fantastic senior boys 400m packed full of young talented juniors, looking for there own qualifiers and also breaking down the door of 48 seconds. Billy Ryan had a fantastic indoors recording 48.17sec and will definitely be one to watch.

David Gillick has being out in flying form recording 45.80 so far this season. As has, Antoine Burke in Australia running 47.92. Myself, Brian Murphy and Brian Gregan will be out over the next 10 days proving fitness for the upcoming Europa Cup. As the hunt begins for all important European cup selection getting the times will be of the upmost importance for selection.

Racing Dates:

Gordon Kennedy Races in:

• Ljubljana 1st June
• Helsinki 5th June
• Tullamore 7th June
• Gothenberg 9th June

Brian Murphy races in:

• Helsinki 5th June

By Gordon Kennedy

“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…)