Jenny Johnston and Philip Maguire report: Over the past 2 weeks, a quartet of extraordinary Clonliffe Athletes: Edel Maguire, Snezana Bechtina, Matt Slattery and Philip O’Doherty have been competing at the World Masters Athletics 2022 in Tampere Finland.
Edel made it a full set across multiple age groups, taking team gold in the W55 4x100m relay, individual silver in the W60 high jump and team bronze in the W45 4x400m relay. Snezana returns to Santry with double gold medals from the W40 4×100 and 400m relay events. Philip O’Doherty had a well-earned team gold in the M60 half marathon, placing 7th individually in 1:24:17
Reports from Edel’s husband, Philip described athletes enduring a torturous day of travel to Finland, with aviation mayhem at both ends, however athletes and teams from all over the world arrived, determined and ready to compete.
In total, Edel Maguire competed in 5 individual events, W60 100m, 200m, 400m, HJ, LJ and also the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay; Snezana Bechtina competed in W40 200m and 400m and 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay; Matt Slattery competed in the M70 200m, 400m and 800m.
In the W60 100m Edel came 2nd in her semi-final heat in a new PB of 14.59, in the final that afternoon she was 5th place on the same time as 4th (14.47, a new PB). The W60 race was won in 13:20s.
In the W60 200m Edel finished 2nd matching her PB in a time of 30.50s. Drawn in lane 8 again for the final, Edel ran 30.15s and another PB for 4th place. The race was won in a World record time of 27.78.
In the M70 200m heats Matt ran 30.14 and qualified for the semi-final placing 6th in 30.38.
Snezana competed in the W40 200m heat running 26.49 but didn’t advance.
In the long jump Edel qualified for the final jump-off, finishing 5th overall with a leap of 4.19m.
In difficult high jump conditions Edel’s training stood the test as she cleared 1.36m @ 3rd attempt to win World W60 silver.
Later that day Edel was blistering in the W60 400m semi-final running 66.62s, a new PB & National record. In a very competitive race, Edel placed 4th in the final in a time of 66.96s, with the race won in 64.86s.
In the W40 400m semi-final Snezana ran 60.95s qualifying for the final. Snezana placed 6th in the final with a time of 60.40. The 400m was won by Annette Quaid in a world record time of 57.42.
Matt Slattery had to endure 2 rounds of qualification to make the M70 400m final, Matt improved over the 3 rounds by 3 sec with a 66.60s in the final for 5th place.
In the M70 800m Matt qualified for the final finishing 6th in the final in 2.47.06.
In the W40 4x100m relay the Irish team of Snezana Bechtina, Avril Dillon (DSD) Kathryn Mcdevitt (Letterkenny) & Sinead O’Regan (Kinsale AC) came within a whisker of breaking the world record for W40, 4x100m , winning Gold in 48.80s.
Edel moved down an age group competing in the W55 4x100m, with Moira Groome (Trim AC), followed by Carol Kearney (Lucan AC), Geraldine Finnegan (North East runners, Dundalk). Edel anchored the team home to victory in 56.21s beating Germany (silver), Finland ( bronze) , GB, & both the W55 & W50 Spanish teams.
On the final day of competition, Philip O’Doherty had a well-earned team gold in the M60 half marathon, placing 7th individually in 1:24:17.
Snezana won team gold in the W40 4x400m relay, alongside Kathryn McDevitt (Letterkenny) & Sinead O’Regan (Kinsale AC) and Annette Quaid (Leevale). Edel moved down a couple of age categories, taking bronze in the W45 4x400m. The team included Carol Kearney (Lucan Harriers), Moira Groome (Trim) and Leanne Wellings (Lucan Harriers).
Well done Edel, Snezana, Philip and Matt and to all the Irish athletes competing.
Apologies for any errors or omissions!