Brendan Marshall has been in terrific long jump winning form all season and it all came together again perfectly for him at the AAI Indoor Championships in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast on Sunday 7th February where he jumped another personal best (6.94m) to finish 3rd overall, but the best of the Irish competitors, to capture the Senior men’s title. This is Brendan’s first National Senior title and is a very well deserved reward for this dedicated athlete and he now looks forward with great confidence to representing DCU at the Irish University Indoors on 14th/15th February in Nenagh.

Another Club man that hit excellent form at the Odyssey was Kevin Duggan when he ran a personal best in the 60m heats (7.12sec) on Saturday, and looked extremely easy doing so, to win his heat and qualify for the semi-finals on Sunday. However, athletics can be very cruel and just as Kevin was moving out of the initial 30m acceleration phase in Sunday’s semi-final, and looking like he would run another personal best and possibly qualify for the final, he was forced to pull up suddenly with a recurrence of a recent hamstring injury and could only jog to the finish line. A cruel blow for Kevin and it is very likely he will miss out joining Brendan on the DCU team at the Irish University Indoors. He now faces into another period of rehabilitation to re-build for the outdoor season but can take some comfort from his personal best performance though, which will stand him good stead in the outdoor season.