International athletics will be returning to Letterkenny again this year, with the Letterkenny International Track & Field Meeting set for Friday 7th July.
This event follows on from last year’s success where we witnessed exceptional performances from a host of world class athletes at the Danny McDaid Athletics Track. This will be the fifth staging of the event, which incorporates the Letterkenny AC Sub 4 Minute Mile Challenge event.
The meeting is going from strength to strength each year, and is sure to be one of the highlights on the Irish and international athletics calendar for 2017.
The organisers will be hoping for meeting records, sub 4 minute miles, and qualification standards for the World Athletics Championships in London later in the Summer.
The men’s feature event will be the iconic distance of 1609m, the Mile. Last year’s event saw England’s Lee Emanuel send the crowd wild by dipping under 4 minutes, running 3:59.66 in an exciting finish.
The 2014 race produced the first ever sub 4 minute mile on Donegal soil with double Olympian, Mexico’s Juan Luis Barrios marking his place in history by stopping the clock at 3:59.43. What will the 2017 event have in store for spectators?
To put the tough task of running a sub 4 minute mile into context, more individuals have climbed Mount Everest than have run under the magical 4 minutes for the mile.
The womens feature event this year will no doubt again be the 3000m steeplechase.
Who could forget the historic night we witnessed in 2015 in Letterkenny when three Irish women, Kerry O’Flaherty, Michelle Finn and Sara Treacy etched their way into the history books with qualification standards for the Rio Olympic Games, in the fastest steeplechase ever recorded on Irish soil.
This year’s event will see the introduction of a mens 3000m steeplechase, where athletes will be coming from all over the world in search of a qualifying time for the World Championships in London. Another exciting addition this year will see a womens 400m hurdles race.
The full list of events in the track and field programme will feature a mens 100m, 200m, 400m, mile, 3000m steeplechase, 3000m, javelin and high jump, and a womens 200m, 400m hurdles, 800m, 3000m steeplechase, shot putt and high jump event. European and World champions & medallists, and numerous Olympians have all graced the tartan track in Letterkenny in the past few years.
The event would not be possible without the continued support of our sponsors, and it is exciting to look forward to Friday 7th July. The action gets underway at the Danny McDaid track at 7pm, and it will be an evening of world class athletics not to be missed.
For more event information and updates, visit:
www.facebook.com/LetterkennySub4Mile
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