Roisin’s thrilled to record a new NI record

ROISIN Flanagan enjoyed a Commonwealth Games debut to remember on Sunday night when she raced to a new personal best, breaking her Northern Ireland 5,000 metres record in the process.

The Rouskey native came home in a superb time of 15:26.76 minutes for 11th overall, while Scotland’s Eilish McColgan, whose dad Peter is from Strabane added a silver medal to her 10K gold as she finished behind winner, Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet.And while she was thrilled to have achieved another new Northern Ireland record on her first appearance at a major senior championship, Flanagan was also thrilled to get the chance to toe the line with such a high standard of athlete, an experience she will take with her to future events.

“The entry list was world class. It was incredible to be on the same start line as them,” she beamed.

“I was a little bit more nervous that normal with it being my first major championship but I knew I’d gain invaluable experience and it was a great one to experience by first ever run in a stadium like that.

“The atmosphere was insane, it was pretty electric and it gave me a boost! It took me away from the pain running round that track and pushed me on. I didn’t want to focus on a time because that will just take care of itself. I wanted to be present in the race and to compete as far as I could, to give it my best and if that was going to be a personal best then that would be a bonus. It worked out pretty well!

“It’s helped me believe that I can live at that level and I’m already looking forward to the next Commonwealth Games.”
Flanagan and twin sister, Eilish will now turn their attentions to the European Championships in Munich, which get underway next week and Roisin believes her Commonwealth Games performance has given her a timely confidence boost.

“As soon as I finished I knew I’d taken a step in the right direction for Munich and future races. It has definitely given me confidence going ahead,” she observed.

“The European’s are prestigious too and it will be another highly competitive race, so I’m looking forward to getting back on track and into competition mode again.

Eilish, meanwhile, finished sixth in the 3,000m steeplechase in a time of 9:57.18 minutes, which Roisin believes is a result she’ll be keen to improve upon

“She definitely wasn’t satisfied because she knows she can perform better than that,” Rosin added. “But at the same time, she has had a bit of a rocky lead-up [both twins suffered injury and illness this season] and it was only her second steeplechase of the season, so she’ll definitely be looking to improve upon that.”

Also competing in the Commonwealth Games were Edendork’s Darren Rafferty, who finished eighth in the men’s time trial and who was second Northern Irish finisher in the road race; Cookstown’s Ian Sloan, who helped England win hockey bronze; Raphoe’s Rachael Darragh, who finished fifth in the women’s singles badminton competition; Omagh’s Rachael Hawkes, who was fifth in the women’s -70kg judo and of course Jude Gallagher, who won gold in the featherweight boxing division. More about them and Strabane boxing official, Ben McGarrigle, and Eilish McColgan in last week’s editions.