The 58th Cork City Sports

The annual Cork City Sports, now in its 58th year, takes place at the UCC Sports Complex, The Mardyke, on Saturday 4th July at 2.00pm and will feature a host of leading international athletes from around the world. A must for all athletes and sports enthusiasts.

City Sports Logo

Top Irish athletes who will compete in Cork include Derval O’Rourke, Paul Hession, Robert Heffernan, Mary Cullen, Alistair Cragg and Kelly Proper.

Among the star international names to feature in Cork will be former World Cross Country champion Benita Johnson (Australia), World high jump champion Vyacheslav Voronin (Russia), Commonwealth 400m champion Aliann Pompey (Guyana), Jamie Nieto and Brianna Glenn from the USA, both previous winners in Cork.

Former World Indoor champion, Derval O’Rourke, will be centre stage in attempting to get a home win over the 100m hurdles for the first time at the Cork City Sports following her brilliant medal winning performance at the European Indoor Championships in Turin this Spring. The holder Andrea Bliss (Jamaica) and the speedy Russian Alexsandra Antonova will ensure serious opposition to the local star from Douglas.

Irish sprint record holder Paul Hession from Athenry will try to repeat his impressive 100m. and 200m. double win of 2008 and his clash with Golden League winner Brendan Christian (Antigua), Chris Williams (Jamaica), and former winner and Meeting record holder DaBryan Blanton (USA) will be worth watching. In the corresponding womens 100m. Olympic finalist Cydonie Mothersill from the Cayman Islands returns to Cork to compete with Brianna Glenn, Tahesia Harrrigan (Virgin Islands) and home sprinters Ailis McSweeney and Kelly Proper.

A major attraction for Cork spectators will be the appearance of Olympic star Robert Heffernan in a special 3000m Walk where the Togher man will attempt to break his own national record for the distance in a strong international field.

The middle distance events in Cork are always highly competitive races with leading African and American runners in the field. Alistair Cragg, Dave Campbell and the exciting David McCarthy will be striving for possible home success on the men’s side, while recent European medallist, Mary Cullen from Sligo will pose a challenge to Benita Johnson, Olesia Tyurina (Russia), Christin Wurth-Thomas (USA), Katrina Wootton (England) in the womens 1500m.

In the field events Kelly Proper (Ferrybank) will carry Ireland’s main hope for jumping success against previous winners Jade Johnson (England), Teresa Dobija (Poland), and Brianna Glenn. In the high jump the Russian Voronin has jumped over 2.40m and his duel with regular visitor to Cork Jamie Nieto who set a new Meeting record of 2.30m last July could be yet another highlight.

With athletes from USA, Australia, Jamaica, India, Canada, Kenya, England, Poland, France, Hungary, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Slovenia, etc., already confirmed a feast of athletics goes ahead on July 4 at the famed Mardyke track.