Jenny Sawyer claims first national title with brilliant run

JENNY Sawyer of St Laurence O’Tooles ran the race of her life to take gold in the 400 hurdles at Morton Stadium on Sunday. In a test for the ages, she was dominant throughout. She could even afford to make a small mistake at the 10th and final hurdle but still prevail with a bit to spare.

Before the race, Laura Frey of Lagan Valley was fancied but it was the Dundrum South Dublin AC pair of Cara Murphy and Rachel Lynch who took silver and bronze.

The County Carlow athlete, who also plays football for Old Leighlin, got off to a great start and when Frey put in her challenge down the back straight, Sawyer was ready and a little surge saw off that challenge.

“Frey had the best personal best in the race. She was in the lane beside me and I was trying to keep up with her. I was just behind her approaching hurdle six so I was in a good position,” explained Sawyer.

“I had run to hurdle six and knew I could get there strong. The coaches were confident I could do that and then I was to concentrate on the top bend at hurdle 8.” Coming around the last bend, Sawyer was in control but mindful about what happened to her club colleague, Adam Nolan who made a mistake at the final hurdle of the 110m race which cost him gold, the 400m hurdles champion in waiting was careful.

“I could see there was no-one near me. I said I needed to hold on and make no mistakes. I did hit hurdle 10 and had a little stumble there. I was lucky not to fall. I had Adam in my head,” she admitted.

It was the biggest win of her career. Last year, she won an indoor varsities title which was special. She needs to find 1.4 seconds in the 400 metres hurdles in order to put herself into the possibility of running for Ireland in the under 23 Europeans. She is only 20 years old at the moment and is a student at University of Limerick.

She is trained by Hayley Harrison the Coach Education Officer for Sport Ireland. Among her training companions are Thomas Barr and the experienced Kelly McGrory. She has been running in the colours of St Laurence O’Tooles for five years now.

It is a great time to be involved in Irish athletics at the moment. Gold medal winners competing in Santry at the weekend included Sarah Lavin and Rhasidat Adeleke. The crowds were out in support of Irish Athletics.

“Everyone is flying especially coming into the Olympics. It is a brilliant time for Irish athletics,” said Jenny.

“The crowd there was phenomenal. The children had pages to be signed and the crowd was very supportive. People are coming to watch which is amazing,” said the Carlow gold medallist.

And will she be coming back to football any time soon? Her sister, Rachel, will be surely looking for a big performance on 14 July when Carlow take on Louth in the All-Ireland junior football championship semi-final. A place at Croke Park is at stake.

“Carlow are doing great. Just club for the moment and I will see about next year later,” said Jenny.

There was also a gold medal brought back to the club by pole vaulter Matthew Callinan Keenan. Callinan Keenan went into the competition with the biggest jump by an Irish man this year so was strongly fancied to compete for the gold medal and in the end, his huge jump of 4.75m was well clear of Kyran Maher back in second, who jumped 4.40. It was Callinan Keenan’s second senior outdoor national title after winning in 2022, he also claimed a bronze last year.

While it was gold at the double on Sunday for St Laurence O’Toole, they have to settle for two silvers on Saturday. Adam Nolan looked sure to win his first senior outdoor national title when he was clear of the field approaching the last obstacle in the 110m hurdles but he hit that hard and fell to the ground, although he did manage to put the slippy conditions to good use by using his momentum to slide over the line in second place. Molly Scott was also second in the 100m hurdles after a good run behind Sarah Lavin, while Scott returned for the 100m sprint on Sunday and finished sixth, just 0.04 behind third.