Paul Hession continued his magnificent run of form at the Cork City Sports this weekend with victory over a top class international field at the Mardyke stadium. The quality of Paul's performance was underscored by the fact that he dipped under both the meet record by a considerable margin and also the Irish record time for the distance. Paul had scorched around the 200m in only 20.43 seconds. See link to full race result below.

He must surely have been dissapointed to hear that a freak wind reading of +4.7 m/s meant that his performance wouldn't stand for record purposes. A swirling wind around the Cork venue had produced hugely variable wind readings all during an afternoon of fantastic athletics and high drama. Surely the Irish 200m record will fall to Paul before the season's out. As it was, this victory over such a high class international field must be yet another huge confidence booster as he continues his brilliant season.

Paul Hession and Sean Kelly

There was dissapointment for David Gillick as he was disqualified from his main event the 400m following a second false start, although David did take his place alongside Paul in the 200m and posted a creditable 21:12.

Elsewhere there were eyecatching performances from David Campell who pipped Laban Rotich of Kenya to the line in the men's 1,500m (3:42:20) and Mary Cullen who came home unchallenged in the women's 3,000m (9:12:59). Joanne Cuddihy was also victorious for the Irish as she claimed the women's 400m's medal (52:26).

Derval O'Rourke had a dissapointing outing by her standards and was only third past the line in the 100m Hurdles. You can't win 'em all Derval.

Derval O'Rourke gets away to a poor start in the 100m hurdles.

Perhaps the athletic highlight of the afternoon came in the men's shotput competition where the USA's Reece Hoffa produced a series of outstanding throws culminating in an awsome toss of 21:47. The previous meet record had been 19:79 which had stood for the last fifteen years.

Reece Hoffa

Full Result of Paul's Race Here: http://www.corkcitysports.ie/corkcitysports/Main/2007_M_200m.htm

Meet Results Here: http://www.corkcitysports.ie/corkcitysports/Main/Timetable2007.htm