Wicklow duo achieve their goals
■ Fionnuala Britton in action during her heat of the Women's 3000m Steeplechase where she finished in sixth place in a time of 9:44.84 and qualified for the final.
TWO WICKLOW athletes achieved their objectives when they competed in the European championships in Barcelona late last week. Fionnuala Britton from Brittas Bay and Stephanie O'Reilly, Wicklow town, were both taking part in the 3000 metres steeplechase.
The objective that Fionnuala set herself was to come through her heat and qualify for the final and she did that.
In the final she ran a 9 minutes, 44 seconds race which was close to her personal best time and, if his had bettered her PB and finished higher that eleventh place, that would have been the icing on the cake for her in these championships.
Fionnuala Britton is an athlete who takes her running very seriously indeed. She spent four months earlier this year in Kenya doing altitude training in preparation for the Europeans and now she will be switching her attention to the cross-country season and focussing on the European cross-country championships which will be held in Portugal in December.
The athletics scene will start hotting up for Fionnuala and all big-name athletes in 2011 as they start on the road of positioning themselves for the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
Stephanie O'Reilly, who is based in the US at the moment, had a more modest goal, gearing her year to qualifying for the European championships last week.
She achieved that and, considering this was her first major championship, she deserves fulsome praise achieving her target.
Also competing in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, but in a different heat to Fionnuala, Stephanie O'Reilly ran a very respectable 10 minutes, 15 seconds race, but it was not enough get her through to the final as one of the fastest losers.
She will be happy overall with her performance.
Remaining injury free this year has been a big help to Stephanie in qualifying for the Europeans and, if his can remain injury free and focussed, she should have more in the tank to conquer further goals.
Her mother Noreen is steeped in athletics and has run the Inbhear Dee club in Wicklow for a number of years.
