Ireland were forced to field an under-strength team in the intermediate schools' track and field international at Santry on Saturday but still managed to finished second overall in both categories. Because of the European Youth Olympics taking place in Portugal the same weekend, there were several notable absentees in the home line-up, including Conor McSweeney in the 1,500 metres and Emily Maher in the 100m.

The hosts found themselves up against a formidable English side who established four new championship bests. One of these came in the 3,000m walk where a photo was needed to separate Amy Hales and Irish contestant Serena O'Keefe, with Hales just getting the verdict. The Irish gained some measure of compensation in the high jump, thanks to a one-two result by Deirde Ryan and Leona Arkins, while in the 1,500m Martina Hickey took seven seconds off her previous personal best to finish runner-up to Emma Ward in a time of 4mins,36.07secs.

But for sheer pace, the English proved unbeatable, with Gaby Howell establishing a new record time of 38.85 for the girls' 300m. She also helped to knock a second and a half off the old 4x300m relay record with a time of 2:39.66.

In the boys' category, Ireland's David Kidd captured first place in the 3,000m walk, finishing 25 seconds ahead of Thomas Taylor from England.

Kenyan Daniel Komen set a new world best of 7mins, 58.61secs over two miles in Hechtel, Belgium last night. The world 3,000m record holder easily bettered the previous record of 8:01.80 set by Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie on May 31st.