Darragh McElhinney sets new Irish record in under-20 5,000m run

The breaking of any Irish distance running record is a rare thing and Darragh McElhinney broke a notable barrier too when improving the Irish Under-20 5,000m record to 13:54.10.

Running at the Oordegem International in Belgium, McElhinney produced a brilliant 17-second improvement on his previous best, the Glengarriff athlete also becoming the first teenager to break the 14-minute barrier at the distance.

Impressive

The previous record of 14:02.30 had stood to Clare’s Kevin Mulcaire since 2015, McElhinney’s time the latest in a series of impressive runs, no doubt aided by his participation in the Under-20 at the World Cross Country in Denmark in March.

At the same meeting John Travers produced a personal best of 13:28.86, the fastest 5,000m fastest by an Irishman in eight years, and there was also European Under-20 Championship qualifying times for both the Irish men and women 4x400m relay teams, those championships set for Boras in Sweden in late July.