Rome was the place to be for the last week as athletes from around Europe gathered to compete in the European Athletics Championships. Ireland had in excess of forty athletes registered across many events, mostly on the track. For the Irish this was the most successful performance since the Europeans commenced and a good contingent of family members, club members, athletic officials and supporters made the journey and were there supporting all the way and joining in the celebrations as the athletes gave 110%. Ciara Mageean gold, Mixed 4×400 relay gold, Women’s 4×400 relay silver, Women’s 400 silver.
KCH had Peter Lynch taking part along with four other Irish athletes in the 10000m A final. Efrem Gidey and Brian Fay were very much in evidence at the early stages. Peter Lynch and Cormac Dalton and Barry Keane were with the bunch but as the race progressed Lynch, Keane and Dalton became detached. Fay subsequently dropped back and then Gidey drifted to ultimately finish 12th in 28.16.94. Brian was 20th (28.40.53), Barry 21st (28.53.34), Peter 22nd (29.02.00) and Cormac 24th (29.15 30).
While Peter was some 70 seconds off his PB there was initial disappointment. But so was everyone else considerably off their PBs including the medal winners. The heat in the stadium? The pace of the race? The pressure of the crowds? The end result is Peter ran well in this his first time in this kind of environment and we look forward to more exciting performances in the future.