Mark Hoy retained his Ulster and NI Senior Championships 800m title on Saturday with a solid performance at the Mary Peters Track.

After a slow first lap in the final, Hoy began to raise his pace and he pulled clear over the last 250m to hold on to the crown he claimed last year.

However, the day did not get off to the best of starts for the Enniskillen athlete.

“I actually had more drama off the track before the heats than during the race! I went to get ready to warm up, only to realise that I left my spikes in my house in Belfast. So I had to race home to grab them and missed about 20 minutes of my warm up,” he said.

Despite the rush, Hoy cruised through his heat with plenty to spare.

“The heats were in the morning when it was very windy but dry and warm. The heat itself was a much calmer affair and I qualified for the final with ease, running 2 mins and 1 sec; my slowest time in probably six or seven years. But, it meant I had plenty left in my legs for the final,” he stated.

Hoy, who runs for the Finn Valley Club, felt confident going into the final that he would produce a good performance although he was only too aware that there was some quality runners in the field that he would have to contend with.

“I was quietly confident going into the final, but there were a few good lads lining up too. The recently crowned Irish Schools Senior Boys champion was there, alongside last year’s runner up and a few other guys capable of running in the low 1 min 50 range,” commented Hoy.

The final started in a cagey manner and the competitors went through 400m in 63 seconds which is slow in comparison to the 53 seconds the Fermanagh man had run two weeks ago on his way to a time of 1min 49secs. However, he pushed on in the second half of the race to seal the win.

“My aim was to get through the first lap as comfortable as possible and then wind up through the gears on the second lap to see what I could do. Once we reached 250m to go I started to lift the pace bit by bit until I was clear and finished with a 55sec second 400m to run 1min 58 and win,” he said.

And the fast second lap pleased Hoy.

“The winning time isn’t overly important in championship racing, but what I’m pleased about is the negative split, running the second lap faster than the first,” he remarked.

The action continues for Mark this weekend when he takes part in the Le Cheile international.

“I was happy to retain my title and get away with a positive performance in the lead up to the Le Cheile International next weekend where there’s athletes from Great Britain, Denmark and Latvia lining up against four of Irelands top 800m guys. I’m looking forward to this and setting myself up with another hopefully fast run before going to another British Milers Club race in Watford in three weeks time.” There was also some strong medal winning performances from Enniskillen Running Club members at the championships.

On Saturday, Ryan Flanagan won silver in U18 men’s 3000m while after her bronze medal in Irish schools over 3000m the previous weekend; Edel Monaghan moved down to 1500m and won silver in the girls U18 1500m.

The following day it was the turn of the younger runners with Lucia Warnock from Tempo winning silver in the Ulster U16 girls 800m final and Aoife Farrell and Abbie Barrett had tremendous runs over 800m at U15 level. All ERC junior runners ran well to achieve personal best times.