Leevale's Lizzie Lee selected for World Half-Marathon Championship
Photo: Athletics Ireland
Lizzie Lee has been selected as Ireland's sole woman
representative at the World Half-Marathon Championships,
to be held in Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday March 26th. She will be
joined on the Irish squad by a full Irish men's team of Paul
Pollock (Annadale Striders), Kevin Seaward (St Malachy’s), Segiu
Ciobanu
(Clonliffe Harriers), Sean Hehir (Rathfarnham) and Thomas Frazer
(Crusaders).
Athletics Ireland press Release:
World Indoor and Half Marathon teams announced
Athletics Ireland has selected teams for the upcoming World Indoor
Championships and World Half Marathon Championships.
Mark English (UCD) and Rose-Anne Galligan (Newbridge) for the World
Indoors in Portland, Oregon (March 17th-20th) while Lizzie Lee
(Leevale) and Paul Pollock (Annadale Striders) lead the Irish entries
for the World Half in Cardiff on March 26th.
English has been selected in the 800m with Galligan in the 1500m. The
UCD medical student has a season’s best of 1:46.99 which he set at the
Glasgow International and will have hopes of adding to his medal
collection – a European outdoor (Zurich) bronze medal in 2014 and a
silver medal at the European Indoors (Prague) last year.
Galligan, the national outdoor 800m record holder, set a personal best
of 4:11.07 for the 1500m at the Athlone International and will be
looking to put in a competitive performance. There is still potential
for more names to be added to the squad depending on the IAAF ranking
list.
“It is a small but elite team for the World Indoors due to the European
Championships and Olympic Games this summer,” said Athletics Ireland
High Performance Director Kevin Ankrom. “Mark (English) is a
championship racer and we expect him to do well in Portland.
Rose-Anne has wintered well and it will be good for her 800m
development.”
Lizzie Lee (Leevale) will be the sole Irish woman in Cardiff,
due to the
racing calendar and plans of the other leading Irish women.
Fionnuala
McCormack will run in the New York Half Marathon on March 20th before
running over 10,000m on the track in Stanford on April 2nd. This is as
part of her training preparations with the goal of getting a qualifying
standard over 10,000m at the European Championships in Amsterdam in
July and also potentially in Rio.
Paul Pollock (Annadale Striders) will lead a full men’s team of five
and will be looking to replicate his performance at the last edition of
the Championships in Copenhagen in 2014 where he ran a swift 62:10 for
30th – still his personal best for the event. Pollock will also use the
event as a sharpener for the London Marathon in April 17th where he
hopes to seal a place on the Olympic marathon team.
A strong quartet of Kevin Seaward (St Malachy’s), Segiu Ciobanu
(Clonliffe Harriers), Sean Hehir (Rathfarnham) and Thomas Frazer
(Crusaders) will flank Pollock in Wales as they bid to put in a good
performance.
Ankrom is happy with selections and feels it fits in well with Olympic
preparations. “The world half fits in well with Olympic marathon
preparation and should provide an excellent marker for our athletes.
Some weren’t available as they have recently raced a marathon or are
focused on their individual preparations for the upcoming spring
marathons.”