Berlin 2009 #1

Its 2009 ,its Berlin world track and field champs 2 years have slipped away since the oven that was Osaka a memorable outing the best ever global team performance by an Irish squad . A new challenge squad very similar first Japan then 12 months ago Beijing so we move on these days Germany next year European champs Barcelona the years soon shoot in . Talking about Germany the buses run on time as i discovered on a visit to Stadium this evening which i missed so if thats the way it is thats the way it is . THe bus journey began 2am in Lifford yesterday Tuesday dropped off by Conor caught the 6-05 out to Berlin with Ryanair straight into a car to team hotel a massive place a meeting with Local organising people re logistics ,accommodation ,payment and accreditation complete by 1pm on to a European area meeting eat and head for the bed whacked . Up and out of it early this day Wed. for an international meeting decisions that people will relate to were zero tolerance for false starts in sprint events ,one false start and you are out ,world cross every 2 years and qualification age for masters 35 for track and 40 for cross country personaly i felt it should always have remained at 40 .

My 'manager' Kieran Carlin has given me my orders to do a blog and in essence it helps to settle the head recording thoughts and bring you photos for www.finnvalleyac.com courtesy of Kieran who is accreditated as a photo journalist to add to his folder from Turin an exciting few days . And there is his own website http://kcathletics.webs.com well worth a visit .

Headed to the track on the bus to acquaintain myself in a quiet period and you can sense the atmosphere of history . Built for the 1936 olympics by Adolf Hitler it has seen it all in those olympics 110,000 germans plus the Fuehrer could not impact on the star of the Games a man from Alabama Jesse Owens winner of 100m,200m,long and winning relay so you can imagine the Adolf anger as he stormed off in a Games devised and hosted to underline the supremacy of the Ayran race. The stadium has seen it all from the black shirts to gold medals ,the Red Army to the Azzurri . You will remember in world cup final Zidane headbutting Italian Mazzerati.In 1945 the Russian army attacked from the north ,east and south finally getting to the Olympiastadion .

All set now in the days ahead wondering who will emerge in Berlin who will attract the headings worldwide it has to be Bolt the man of the moment 400,000 tickets sold to date while in an Irish context form good from Alistair based in Milan due in with his new U S training group today thursday while a text last night from THomas Chamney in answer to a question was´`Defo.ready to rock and roll ´so that music begins for him in 1500m Sat .Rob Heffernan has like Olive Loughnane been in Spala ,Poland finalising training they have prepared diligently since Beijing top 8 on that occassion that lends expectation and pressure but thats the game ,they fly in from Warsaw later today . Fingers crossed and on opening day Roisin Mc Gettigan in steeple has had a quiet season and only really confirmed her readiness to have a go in last 10 days after a mixed period of competition . Lets se

THe days will fly now and for me its a matter of overviewing letting the coaches predominately the personal coaches do their job and after an initial scare on some accreditations and access issues earlier all now in order . Irish athletics has done well this Summer medals at european youth olympics and world youths in addition an under 23 European medal so now can the senior element of the sport hit the target . What is the target well i should think 5 finals top 8 -10 and a general seasons best performance hit would answer that always remembering 213 countries are chasing opportunities here.

I will pick up on the story most days particularly competition days from Saturday please join me and interact . My thanks to Thomas who as usual is dealing with this re the web back in Killygordon. Much appreciated as usual .

Patsy mc Gonagle
Team Manager
Athletics Ireland

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