By 
NICK Griggs broke a second national record in as many weeks when he set a new Irish under-23 indoor mark for the 5000 metres of 13:19.90 minutes to finish fourth at the John Thomas Terrier Classic at Boston University.
His time moves the 21-year-old to third on the Irish senior and first on the Northern Ireland indoor all-time lists and it came just seven days after he took over 12 seconds off his own short-course 3,000 metres best, recording a time of seven minutes 32.79 seconds for new Northern Irish senior and Irish under-23 records.
While generally pleased with his trip to America, the Newmills man felt he could have gone much faster in the 5000 metres last weekend.
“The first one (was) class and then I wasn’t too happy with the second, but that’s the way it goes,” he explained. “I was trying to run a bit quicker, but the race didn’t pan out that way and I had to do all the work myself.
“It sounds decent when it was the record but it was a long way off what I was aiming for. But the 3K was a really good marker to put down and I’m really happy with that.”
Nick’s latest record breaking efforts came after he achieved his personal holy grail of winning an individual gold medal at the European Cross-Country Championships in Portugal at the end of last year, becoming the first Irishman ever to achieve that feat.
“It was class. I wanted it for so long, so to finally win Euro cross was very special,” he beamed. “It kind of went perfect on the day and I couldn’t have asked for any more with individual and team gold. It was outrageous, a special day and one I think I’ll be looking back on with fond memories for a long time.”
That particular achievement has given Nick a timely boost ahead of what is expected to be a busy year with the prospect of the indoor World Championships at the end of next month, followed by the European outdoor’s and Commonwealth Games.
“We’re in a good place and I’m just trying to stay fit and healthy for a big summer,” he added.
At present, Nick has achieved the qualification time for all three major championships above, but that may not be enough for the World Indoor’s if Darragh McElhinney hits that mark for the 3000 metres too. That’s because it will leave Ireland with three men, including Andrew Coscoran, as qualifiers but with only two spots on the team. That means, it could come down to a shoot-out at the Irish Championships in a few weeks time, with the top two of that trio getting a seat on the plane to Poland.
“It would be class if I could go [to the World’s] because it means, no matter what, I’d be able to say I was in a World senior final because there are no heats,” Nick added. “That would be very special but we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully I’ll be there.”
This week, Nick will compete at the prestigious Armagh International Road Races on Thursday.
