Three UCD athletes win gold medals at National Track and Field Championships

Plenty of argy-bargy as Mark English wins them 800m national title! It's worth a watch. Live action on (opens in a new window)@RTE2 and (opens in a new window)@RTEPlayer (opens in a new window)pic.twitter.com/bHhkftdaDc

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) (opens in a new window)July 23, 2017

Posted July 25, 2017

• Ciara Mageean, Mark English and Sarah Lavin affirm status as best in Ireland

Three UCD Ad Astra Elite Athletes have won gold medals to become national champions at the 2017 Irish Life Health National Senior Track and Field Championships.

Physiotherapy student Ciara Mageean defeated a field of 10 to win the women’s 800m final in a time of 2:04.06. Mageean is from County Down and represented Ireland at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She is the Irish record holder in the indoor 1,500m and mile.

Donegal native Mark English won a testy men’s 800m final in a time of 1:50.89. The medicine student is the indoor 800m and outdoor 600m national record holder. English was a semi-finalist in the 800m at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

His (opens in a new window)UCD Athletics Club teammate Karl Griffin ran the course in 1:52.44 to take bronze. Griffin, also from Donegal, studies science and was a finalist in the 4x100m relay at the U23 European Championships last weekend.

Pictured front: Mark English leads the field in the 800m final (credit: RTÉ)

23-year-old Sarah Lavin won the women’s 100m hurdles final in a time of 13.62. The physiotherapy student from Limerick cruised to victory over the six-woman field to register a time of 13.62.

Mageean and English will now focus their preparations on the upcoming (opens in a new window)IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The biannual competition will take place from August 4th – 13th at London’s Olympic Stadium.

By: Jonny Baxter, digital journalist, UCD University Relations