Leevale’s Martin McCarthy got his track season off to a flying start at the weekend by winning the 5,000m at the Florida Relays. His time of 14:21.94 saw him over three seconds clear of the second athlete. The fact that his winning time is somewhat on the slow side should not bother him too much as his main aim for the season is to qualify for the 10,000m event at the Olympics. In the coming weeks his clubmate Mark Carroll has promised to act as pace maker in his bid to achieve the qualifying standard.