Louise Shanahan

What is TrackAthletes?

TrackAthletes is your ultimate resource for following Irish track and field athletes. It includes information about Irish athletes, what competitions they’ll be competing in, and how to follow all the major domestic and international indoor, track and field, multievent, race walking, cross country and road racing events. 

We list the Irish athletes currently in qualifying spots for major international championships, including on the road to Apeldoorn (European Indoor Championships), Nanjing (World Indoor Championships) and Tokyo (World Athletics Championships). The current qualification picture for other international championship events, together with links to event websites and selection policies, can be found via our Road to Elsewhere/Other Championships page.

If you want to follow specific athletes or meetings, simply set up an account, and add the athletes, competitions and championships you’re interested in to your Watchlist.
 

Who is the site for?

Anyone with an interest in Irish athletics will find something of interest on the site. Our main target audience are fans of the sport - new and diehard - who want to watch more Irish athletes in action.

If you’re just interested in, for example, Sharlene Mawdsley because you went to school with her, then select her profile from the Irish Athletes page, set up an account, and add her to your Watchlist. If you opt to receive email notifications, we’ll let you know every time she’s due to compete.

If you’re a die-hard fan, and want to watch everything the sport has to offer, then check our calendar each day, and you’ll see what competitions are on, and how to watch them.

We’ll write articles for those who are somewhere in between, and want to learn more about the sport, when the best events are on, and how to watch them.

If you’re an athlete, you can use the filter options on our calendar to plan your season. However, we strongly recommend that you check all details on the meeting organisers’ websites before firming your race plan; some information, including dates of competitions and level of the meet, can change as the season progresses.

We want to elevate the sport of athletics, and journalists and others working in athletics media may find useful information for telling the story of Irish athletes on their journey to major championships. Credit in return is always greatly appreciated.
 

You use the word Track in your title. Does that mean we can’t find anything about field events here?

TrackAthletes is all about tracking athletes, irrespective of their discipline, as they compete on the international circuit and try to qualify for major championships. We share links so you can follow Irish athletes (by livestream and live results, where available), in track and field competitions and on the roads and cross country, and updates of athletes qualified for upcoming major championships. Ireland have some talented field and multi-event athletes emerging on the international stage, and we’re just as excited to track their progress as we are the sprinters and distance runners.
 

I watched the athletics at the Olympics, and liked what I saw. How can I follow the sport in non-Olympic years?

Firstly, you’ve come to the right place. We really want to help lower the entry barrier for new fans of athletics. During the summer there are meets on most nights of the week, but not all are entertaining for those new to the sport. We’ll list events that are coming up on TV on our homepage - they’re a great place to start as they’ll generally have Irish athletes competing, informative commentary, and something at stake (e.g. championship titles or lots of prize money). 

If you search the calendar page for ‘Very High’ relevancy you’ll get a list of upcoming competitions either in Ireland (so with lots of Irish athletes), or with top international stars and/or high profile Irish athletes competing. Information is included on how to watch these events and where to find the timetable, startlists and live results.

We also share some articles on what is good to watch and how to follow the sport closer. Check out our suggestions for 10 events to attend in Ireland and our guide to indoor athletics for beginners.
 

There are a lot of filter options on the Calendar page. How can I best use them?

This searchable database of events includes national and international competitions, and will be of interest to both fans looking to watch the events, and athletes looking to plan their seasons.

• Click on the competition title to find out more about it, including the list of events and details of how to enter the competition, where available.
• The various World Tours can be chosen from the Tour option.
• The level of the event (Championship, Diamond League, Gold, Silver, Bronze) can be chosen under the Category option. Domestic and International Championship events are also highlighted with a purple surround.
• Events or disciplines (e.g. women’s 800m; Men’s 20km walk) can be selected from the event option. 
• You can also choose the type of competition/surface on which it will be held (e.g. indoor, cross country, road, track).
• The relevancy option highlights competitions you won’t want to miss. The relevancy rating is outlined below. The relevancy of an event may increase closer to the time as Irish athletes are confirmed.
• Once you have set the variables you want to search by (e.g. all Continental Tour Bronze events with women’s 800m), you can export the list of competitions to excel by clicking on the Export to Excel button.

Dates of competitions, events at a particular meeting, and the level of the meeting may change. While every effort is made to ensure that the information is up to date, please always check the meeting website. We hold no responsibility for loss or damage occurring as a result of information gained from this site.
 

Can you explain the relevancy scale?

Very High: High standard events in Ireland - these are events we think you should try get to in person.
High: Major Championships, Diamond Leagues, and World/Continental Tour Meetings with Irish athletes competing.
Medium: These are lower-ranked meetings with Irish athletes, or World/Continental Tour Meetings which are likely to feature Irish athletes, but have none listed yet.
Low: These are meetings which have little or no relevance to fans of Irish athletes and do not feature big international stars.
 

Why do only certain meetings appear on the homepage?

The Upcoming Meetings list on our homepage indicate the next meetings which have a Very High or High relevance attached to them, i.e. that they are domestic meetings, or are World Athletics tour meetings with Irish athletes confirmed in them. If you'd like to see a more complete list of upcoming meetings, then please check out the Meeting Calendar.
 

Are juvenile events listed?

No. TrackAthletes is focused on senior athletics. Some major U20 events may be mentioned, especially if there’s an international championship to watch, but the priority is always adult and senior athletes and competitions.

Profiles of individuals who are under the age of 18 will never be added to the site.
 

If an athlete is listed on a start list, does that mean that they’ll definitely be competing?

No. There can be last minute change of plan, due to illness, injury, missed flights or an athlete being upgraded to a higher meeting. The higher the meeting, the more likely an athlete listed on the final startlist is to compete. Some meetings (Continental Tour Bronze and below, in particular) only list entries in advance, and the final startlists are not available until athletes check in for their event(s) an hour before.

We will always try to list the most up-to-date information we can find, but this is not always accurate. We encourage athletes to let us know if they are no longer competing in a competition they've entered, but sometimes they have other things on their mind.
 

I’m looking for the results for an event that happened two weeks ago, but the event is no longer listed on the calendar. Is it possible to find this?

While only events in the future will appear by default on the calendar, if you choose the year in the search, you will see past events. Events back to when the site was started (January 2025) can be found this way, though there is no guarantee that the links still work (as these are all on external websites).
 

Why do I need to set up an account and log into the site?

You don’t. But if you want to save athletes and events to your Watchlist, then you’ll need to register an account. When you’re setting up your account, you can opt to receive email notifications about when the athletes on your Watchlist are due to compete and additional information during championships on your Watchlist.
 

What do you do with my data?

We take your privacy rights seriously, and you’ll find the full details of why we collect data, what data we collect and how we store and manage it in our Privacy Policy.
 

Who is behind this site?

The site is set up and maintained by Louise Shanahan and Elizabeth Egan, both athletes, avid athletics fans, and data enthusiasts.

Louise, from Cork, is an Irish senior international athlete. She competed in the 800m at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, has multiple Irish titles and held the Irish senior 800m record from May 2022 to May 2023. She completed a PhD in Quantum Physics at University of Cambridge in 2024, and has since picked up the programming skills to build this website. Louise is sponsored by Asics and is currently aiming to qualify for her second Olympics in 2028. 

Elizabeth has been tracking Irish athletes on their ‘Road to…’ journeys, deciphering ranking points and sharing links to livestreams and results since 2020. She has a PhD in Exercise Physiology, has published two books, and provides lifestyle and personal development coaching to high performance sportspeople. She competed in her first All Ireland cross country championships in 1993 and has six Irish Senior steeplechase medals. 

Elizabeth and Louise met for the first time in October 2023, and had their first conversation about this site in July 2024, just six months before it launched.
 

Where do your photos come from?

All photos on the site are used with the permission of the photographer who took them. We are indebted to Eric Bellamy, Mark Kavanagh, Keith McClure and Gregory Ufnal for the use of their wonderful shots.

If you're a photographer and have photos that we can use, then we'd love to hear from you. We're particularly interested in photos of field event athetes.
 

How can I contact TrackAthletes?

You can get in touch via email or through the contact form on this site. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions on how the site can be improved. We also want to hear when we’ve missed information or got something wrong, so that we can correct it.

More athlete profiles will be added as the site grows, but if there’s an athlete that you would like to follow, or if you’re an athlete yourself and would like to be added so that your friends and family can easily follow your races, then do get in touch.
 

I’m an athlete and I’ve spotted missing and incorrect information about myself. What should I do?

Please contact us via email or our mistake reporting form. We want the information on the site to be correct, but we're human and sometimes we get things wrong. Whether we've missed the fada from your name, added you to a meeting that you're not competing in, or missed a PB or qualifying standard, please don't feel like you're being a nuisance. We want to know when something is wrong, so that we can make it right.
 

I’m a meeting organiser and my meeting is not listed. Why is this?

We make every effort to add meetings relevant to Irish senior athletes and fans (e.g. domestic competitions, international competitions that Irish athletes are competing in, international meetings that Irish athletes might be interested in watching). However, sometimes we miss an important event. If that's the case, then please get in touch.

Irish athletics fans are spoilt for opportunities to meet current and future stars of the sport across the country, and throughout the year.

Here we highlight 10 of the top events for spectators, including a mix of indoor, outdoor, cross country and road events.

Irish Senior Indoor Championships, NIA, Dublin, 22-23 February

The National indoor championships are rarely without at least one standout performance or moment of drama. In 2024, the closing stages of the men’s 1500m final, with both Cathal Doyle and Nick Griggs falling over the line, was a battle worthy of any stage.

The 2023 Championships, the year of the last European Indoors, was a particularly exciting one. Israel Olatunde smashed the national 60 metre record. Elizabeth Ndudi won the Long Jump on countback from Ruby Millett. Jack Raftery, in a last-dash effort to make European Indoors, set a new Championship Best Performance in the 400m. Mark Smyth (200m) and Saragh Buggy (Triple Jump) were both just outside the respective national records.

While some athletes, including Rhasidat Adeleki, have said that they’re foregoing the European and World Indoors this season and are therefore likely to skip nationals, there will be no shortage of athletes looking to step into the limelight.

The intensity of the indoor setting, together with the proximity of the action, gives indoor competition a particularly electric atmosphere. The short season means that many will still be chasing qualifying standards, B standards, and ranking points, and with two major championships in the calendar, and places on a couple of relay squads on the line, there’s sure to be more NIA drama in 2025.

Athletics Ireland normally do a two-day ticket at a reduced price, and those under 16 go free, but spectator seating is limited, so you are advised to secure your ticket early. Most of the track finals will be on the second day, but with half the field events and the sprint hurdles finals on the Saturday, there’s sure to be drama right across the weekend.

Belfast Irish Milers Meet, Mary Peter’s Track, Belfast, 10 May

Ten years since the first edition, the season-opening Belfast Irish Milers Meet has seen national records, Olympic and World Championships qualifying times, breakout performances and hundreds of personal bests.

The women’s 800m never disappoints. Louise Shanahan and Ciara Mageean both broke two minutes in 2022, the former in a then Irish record of 1:59.42. Shanahan won again in 2022 in 1:59.53, to date her only other time under two minutes. Great Britain’s Phoebe Gill catapulted herself into the public consciousness when she front-ran 1:57.86 last year. The seventeen-year-old was one of several athletes in action to later compete at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Sophie Becker set the tone for the year ahead when she ran 51.13 seconds for the 400m last May, which, at the time of writing, is still good enough for fifth place on the Irish Alltime list. Cillín Green, Jack Raftery, Callum Baird and Sean Doggett were all well under 47 seconds in last year’s men’s 400m.

The meet is free to attend and in addition to invitational races over 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 3000m, has graded middle distance races for national-level athletes. When the weather plays ball, Mary Peters track is one of the most beautiful venues for spectators. Pack the picnic, and prepare yourself for surprises, drama, and maybe even a record or too.

Irish Schools Championships, Tullamore, 30-31 May

While the focus of TrackAthletes is on senior athletes, it would be remiss of us not to mention the greatest annual gathering of rising stars. The top juveniles rarely miss this one, and with limited age-groups, it’s an opportunity to see head-to-heads that don’t happen at other juvenile events.

The Irish Schools Championships is always slickly run, and while a small number of the events now take place on the Friday evening, the Saturday is non-stop action, with straight finals throughout.

Cork City Sports, MTU Track, Cork, 9 July

With National Seniors a bit later this year, the Cork City Sports is the first of the big trio of senior domestic events. The intimate venue makes for a lovely evening out, and the athletics action rarely disappoints, with Ireland’s top athletes, especially those from Cork, battling it out against some top athletes from Britain, the USA and further afield.

Last year saw wins for Sarah Lavin (100m Hurdles) and Reece Ademola (Long Jump), with Cathal Doyle second in a very competitive mile, Nick Griggs third behind a pair of Americans in the 3000m, and Nicola Tuthill third in the Hammer Throw, just missing the 70m mark.

The 2025 programme, like last year, will include 100m, 200m, 800m and 3000m races for both men and women, as well a women’s 100m hurdles and the men’s mile, which traditionally concludes the programme. On the field, the women will compete in the Hammer Throw and the High Jump, while there will be Long Jump and Shot Put competitions for the men. Junior and national events will bolster what is typically a strong international meeting.

Morton Games, Morton Stadium, Dublin, 11 July

Just two days after the Cork City Sports, the World Continental tour will head to Morton Stadium in Santry, for the Morton Games.

The Morton Mile, which concludes the programme, is one of the highlights, not just of the meeting, but of the annual domestic calendar. After a drought of 18 years, there have been Irish winners in two of the last three editions. Andrew Coscoran ’s dive just got the better of Cathal Doyle in 2022, the pair leading five Irish athletes under four minutes on that occasion. Doyle finally got his name on the trophy with a dominant display in 2024.

In addition to the Mile, the 2025 edition will have international races over 100m, 400m, 800m and 5000m and a Shot Put competition for the men. The women will compete in 400m, 800m, 1500m, 100m hurdles, High Jump and Discus.

National Senior Championships, Morton Stadium, Dublin, 2-3 August

This is the first fixture placed in any serious Irish athletics fan’s diary. Not only is it a great weekend of athletics, but it’s the best opportunity in the year to catch up with old competitors and friends from the world of athletics.

The 2024 Championships was one of the best attended in recent years, with children from across the country, along with their responsible adults, flocking to Morton Stadium to witness Ireland’s rising stars in action, and grab an autograph or two form current and past stars of the sport.

The highlight of the 2024 edition was, no doubt, Rashidat Adeleke breaking the Irish 100m record. Other stars from the European Championships in Rome, including Nicola Tuthill, Sophie Becker, and Phil Healy also competed. While Thomas Barr’s attempt to qualify for the 400m hurdles in Paris ultimately ended in heartbreak, Cathal Doyle (1500m) and Oisin Joyce (Javelin) demonstrated why they were athletes to look out for later in the summer. Jodie McCann did enough in her front-running 5000m victory to secure a place for Paris, while Jack Raftery’s surprise victory in the 400m sealed his place on the mixed relay.

In addition to the numerous stars on display, the national championships always has some spectacular head-to-heads, particularly in the middle distance events. Who can forget the epic 1500m battle in 2020 between Paul Robinson and Sean Tobin, or the one between Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan in 2023, just weeks after they finished second and first at the European U23 Championships.

The international element means that the Cork City Sports and Morton Games are a slightly higher standard across the board, but if you want to see what a national title means to Irish athletes, then get yourself to Morton Stadium for the best weekend of athletics on the island!

Autumn Open Cross Country, Abbotstown, Dublin, 19 October

This World Cross Country Tour meeting comes very early in the season, but that makes it all the more exciting. The dry ground and shorter distances hand a slight advantage to the track athletes, and it’s always interesting to see how athletes are fairing after the end of season break.

The inclusion of U20 athletes, who race a lap fewer than the seniors, the trials for the Masters Cross Country International, and a sprinkling of international runners, add extra spice to the event.

The main Men’s and Women’s races are preceded by the National Mixed Cross Country Relay Championships, which serves as the trial race for the European Clubs Cross Country Championships, and the national juvenile relays.

Mid-October sees the purpose-built Abbottstown course at its autumnal best, and the action-packed programme makes this a great afternoon out for all the family.

Dublin Marathon, Dublin, 26 October

The streets of Dublin come alive on the final Sunday of October, as the city’s population pours out onto the streets in support of those taking on the 26.2 miles for a variety of reasons.

While not known for fast times, those who made the effort last year will have witnessed Hiko Tonaso Haso break the Irish record, and AnnMarie McGlynn complete the first stage of a historic autumn double as she took the Irish Women’s title and added the Irish Cross Country title to her resume just three weeks later.

The atmosphere in the city centre, as hundreds of spectators line the final mile of the course, is definitely worth experiencing, but there are lots of other great points along the course to get a glimpse of international stars, loved ones, and friends, and maybe to run into a fellow spectator or two that you know.

Who knows, you may even be inspired to take on the distance yourself next year!

National Senior Cross Country Championships, TBC, 23 November

Castle Irving in Fermanagh provided a beautiful backdrop for last year’s well-attended and well-organised Championships, which provided its fair share of surprises.

The event incorporates not just the National U20, U23 and Senior Individual Championships, but also the National inter-club and inter-county team competition and the European Cross Country trials. The All-Ireland Even Age Juvenile Championships also form part of the programme.

An action-packed day is guaranteed, filled with ecstasy and heartbreak, and that’s just those at the back of the field. Kileen Kilreehill’s win in the Senior men’s race in 2024 showed just what winning a national title means to an athlete, while AnnMarie’s utter shock at taking the women’s title reminded onlookers how wonderfully unpredictable this sport is.

There have been nine different winners of the Senior men’s title in the past nine editions, while seven different athletes have won the Senior women’s title since 2017. Wherever in the country the championships head, be sure you go too, and see who adds their name to the role of honour. Just don’t forget to pack your wellies.

National Senior 35km Walks Championship, Raheny, 14 December

In addition to being a national championship event, this meeting has World Racewalking Tour Bronze status, and in 2024 many top international walkers flocked to Dublin to record a time over what is currently the longest walk on the international programme.

As a national championships event, it also carries valuable performance points for Irish athletes looking to secure qualification for international competitions in 2026.

St Anne’s Park is a beautiful place for a Sunday morning stroll, so why not pop along and see how Ireland’s fastest walkers take it on.

Other events worth a watch include the various IUAA Intervarsity championships (indoors in February, Track and Field in April, and Cross Country and Road Relays championships in the autumn), the All-Ireland School’s Cross Country Championships (early March), the National U20 and U23 Track and Field Championships (early July), and the National Track and Field League Final in July.

For a full list of senior competitions in Ireland, search the Fixtures Calendar using the ‘country’ filter.