Hanrahan heading for the Top Ten - May 20, 1999

On a calm, still, emotionless night, 38 people arrived to watch Matt Hanrahan strut his stuff in round 2 of the Cork County League competition. Having already primed himself for a sub 57 400 metres and a sub 10 metre shot put, he was devastated to learn that neither were on the programme.

He did go on to prove what a powerhouse hammer throwing club the great Mentone Athletic Club have turned out by doing Lotzy proud. With visions of foreign swear words in his head and spittle flying randomly through the air he stood in the circle, poised, ready to perfect his no rotation technique.

Devastated to learn that the officials were too lazy to reel the tape measure all the way in, he misread a 30.24 heave when it was indeed only 20.24m - yet still good enough for last place.

Bypassoing the 800m, the hulking mass from Cheltenham opted for the high jump.. It didn't help - he still cramped. Taking the Tim Forsyth approach, Matt called the officials a f$%*ing disgrace as they misspelt his name on the event sheet. He later commented that it was F$%*ing unbelievable that they opted to use blue pen instead of black.

The event in itself was a surprise for many reasons. Firstly, he cleared a height on first attempt. Most officials felt it inappropriate to do a backflip on his first attempt, however Matt soon told them where to go.

Passing 1.55 was always going to be risky, but as Matt saw the bar only heavily wobbling on his 3rd attempt at 1.60m, he knew this was his day. Finally finishing after three far misses at 1.75m, he finished 2nd with the holiday for 2 in the Bahamas and the nearlymodel, in addition to a clearance of 1.70m against his name. This would surely rank him in the women's top ten this year and he knew it.

Next week, we rest and drink beer whilst filming the documentary "Is Cork athletics more boring than Glenhuntly?" Unfortunately, we'll have to keep nudging the cameraman to get decent footage.

By the way, the Groundskeeper at the Leevale track is actually called Groundskeeper Willy.

Love Always

Matt