Weekend Review Berlin & Doha

30 September 2019

Weekend Review Berlin & Doha

It was an action packed weekend of International athletics, with athletes in Berlin and Doha. Commonwealth Games athlete, Kevin Seaward ran the second fastest time for an NI athlete at the Berlin Marathon, while Brendan Boyce (Finn Valley AC) came 6th in the 50k Walk at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

Kevin Seaward (St Malachys AC) finished the Berlin Marathon on Sunday 29th September in 21st place in a terrific PB time of 2hrs 13mins and 39secs. This is, not only the second fastest for an NI athlete, but is also a Tokyo Olympics qualification time and puts the athlete in 9th place on the Irish All Time List.

Further afield, the World Athletics Championships started on Friday 27th September in Doha. Finn Valley AC’s Brendan Boyce had the performance of his life when finishing 6th out of an entry field of 47 in the World Championships 50k Walk.

2019-dohabrendanboyce.jpg

The 50k Walk started at midnight (Doha time), as do a number of other events, in order to combat against the extreme heat of Doha. Out of a field of 47 athletes, some 16 failed to finish, so even getting across the finish line was a battle in itself. Boyce has had possibly his best season yet, with a number of personal bests, and finished the Doha event in 4hrs 7 mins and 36 secs to take 6th place.

An emotional Boyce said: “It means a lot and I want to thank everyone who’s helped me this year “.

There was unfortunately no joy for Letterkenny AC’s 800m runner Mark English. Triple European medallist led the race at 400 metres in 51.88 secs and was still leading with 200 metres left but finished in 7th place in a time of 1.47.25.

A subdued English said: “I ran my best race possible but it didn’t work out. I took the lead as I didn’t want to leave it to a fast finish since there were several good sprinters in the race. I’m not blaming the weather as it was ok inside the stadium.”

For more information on our Northern Ireland athletes still to compete at the World Championships in Doha, see here