Erin Friel wins over 100m in Belfast as summer creeps into view

Erin Friel won a 100m race at the Belfast Irish Milers Meet on Saturday in Belfast.

The Letterkenny AC woman clocked 12.23 seconds to take victory.

Friel won the women’s 100m B race from Donore Harriers’ Aoife Lynch (12.28), while Sophie Parlour from Olympian YAC was third in 12.68.

Friel has both the 200m and 400m standard for this year’s European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Skopje having competed in the European U18s last summer in Slovakia.

Her indoor season included golds at the National Juveniles, winning the 400m and 200m. 

She won the 400m in a Championship best of 54.42 seconds - a time that was also marked down as new Irish U18 and Donegal senior records.

In the 200m, Friel hit a new Donegal record time of 24.24 seconds.

Now, the Loreto Secondary School student will be looking to get a European standard with the Irish U20 relay team in Tullamore next weekend, while she will also go under starter’s orders at the IFAM in Brussels later in May.

Saturday’s event at the Mary Peters Track was the 10th edition of the Belfast Irish Milers Meet - a part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger series

Friel was third in a 200m race, going 24.79 seconds and beaten by Katie Bergin of Moyne (24.25) and Ratoath’s Katie Doherty (24.79).

Castlefin native Hannah Murray, running for UCD AC, was third in a 400m. Murray crossed the line in 55.64, with Cliodhna Manning from Kilkenny City Harriers winning in 54.04 and Craughwell AC’s Sinead Treacy second in 55.25.

Finn Valley AC’s Amy Greene came through the women’s 3k in 1:000.39 while Odhran McBrearty, also of Finn Valley AC, clocked 8:34.68 over 3k.

Oisin Toye of Finn Valley AC was ninth in a 1500m in 3:50.80 while Caolan McFadden from Cranford AC was 16th in the same race, crossing the line in 3:53.75.

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Janine Boyle of Finn Valley ran 12.53 for sixth in the women’s A 100m final, while LAC’s Emma Bonar was second in the 800m C race in 2:10.85 while Michael Moore, in the men’s D 800m race, was second in 1:54.85.