July 25, Barcelona, Spain
Ireland were well represented in the 1,500m at a IAAF GPI meeting in Barcelona last night when James Nolan,Mark Carroll, and Colm McClean all ran well to show good form for Sydney.Nolan`s run was by far and a way the most impressive finishing fifth just ahead of Mark Carroll in sixth.James` time of 3.36.80 was exactly the time he needed for Sydney and has shown that at this stage of the season coming off the back of two weeks training in Spain he is in good shape to go even faster.As for Mark, he had been aiming at the Irish record of 3.33. by Ray Flynn but was a little dissappointing.His time of 3.36.91 was some way off his best of 3.34.91.He put it down to jet lag and the erractic pace of the race.St.Malachy`s also had Colm McClean running and since he joined Brendan Hackett`s group this year has been in good shape.He slashed 2 seconds off his best time to come home 13th in a time of 3.40.41.In the space of two years he has taken only 3 seconds off his best but now, under the guidence of Hackett and with the likes of James Nolan, Micheal Wilcox and Noel Cullen for training partners he can only make more progress.