Local athletes take to European Indoor stage

FOUR local athletes will be among the 11-strong Irish squad that contests this weekend’s European Indoor Championships in Belgrade.

Starting tomorrow (Friday), the event will see Tallaght man Brian Gregan line out in the Men’s 400m, Donore Harriers athlete John Travers contest the 1500m and DSD pair Sinead Denny and Zak Curran fielded in 400m and 800m competition respectively.

Gregan, who took last month’s National 400m Indoor title despite being in unable to train because of an untimely bug, is determined to take a more composed approach to these championships than he has done in previous years.

“Too many times I’ve been caught up with performances and times, but I’m just going to take each race at a time and not get ahead of myself.

I’ve done that before and it hasn’t worked out.

“The European Indoors are a tricky one, because there’s people all over the place, the runners don’t stay in their lanes all the way and it can get very messy.

“I just want to stay on my feet, try to keep my head and get around those laps” he stressed.

Following National Indoor gold and victory over closest rival Paul Robinson, Travers will be hoping to again make a European Indoor Final just as he did two years ago in Prague.

“I made the final two years ago and finished seventh and I feel I’m in even better shape now” insisted the Drimnagh man.

“But that doesn’t mean a thing. There are three heats with only the top two making it through and you do need that bit of luck.

“I did have that the last time because I finished third in my heat which was the fastest heat and the top three from the fastest heat go through.

“Last year had stomach problems from May right through to October. Thankfully I haven’t had any problems since then and I’ve been able to get in those hard session in training and get that consistency that I’ve wanted” he added.

Denny, a runner-up in the Nationals to international team mate Phil Healy, was a semi finalist in the European Outdoor Championships last summer, while clubmate Curran will be making his European Indoor debut.

“This is the first step out into the next Olympic cycle having acquitted ourselves extremely well in Rio” said Team Manager Patsy McGonagle.

“We will be building from that and we look forward to the year ahead. This will be the highlight of the indoor season at elite level” he added.