UCD student Mageean lands national 3000m indoor title
Posted February 21, 2017
- Olympian to compete at European Indoor Athletics Championships
University College Dublin Ad Astra Elite Athlete Ciara Mageean has won the Irish 3,000 metre national indoor championship title.
Running the day after her grandmother Elizabeth passed away, Mageean took gold ahead of Fionnuala McCormack and steeplechaser Michelle Finn.
Pictured: Ciara Mageean, UCD, AC, Dublin, running in the Women's 3000m Final during the Irish Life Health National Senior Indoor Championships at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Ciara Mageean wins (Sinead O'Connor in shot) in 9:08.79 ahead of Michelle Finn and Fionnuala McCormack pic.twitter.com/BVAVnuBknE
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) February 18, 2017
At the halfway point of the race at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown, European Women's 1,500m bronze medallist Mageean and her fellow Olympian Michelle Finn were clear of the field.
She then broke completely clear in the final 800m and maintained a commanding lead, finishing in a time of 9.08.83, four seconds ahead of Finn, with McCormack coming seven seconds behind.
The win is a boost for the fourth-year Physiotherapy student and Ad Astra athlete who now travels to the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade where she will compete in the 1,500m from March 3 to 5. She will lead an 11-strong Irish team at the championships.
By: Jamie Deasy, digital journalist, UCD University Relations
