Dundalk athletes, Finnegan and Lynch, shine at European Masters Championships

Geraldine Finegan of North East Runners AC, alongside clubmate Brian Lynch, proudly represented Dundalk and Ireland at the European Masters Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, returning home with an impressive haul of medals.

Finegan delivered an outstanding performance across a demanding schedule, competing in no fewer than 15 events, including heats, semi-finals, and finals.

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Her resilience, fitness, and versatility were on full display as she secured a remarkable five medals — two gold, two silver, and one bronze.

Her campaign began in the high jump, where she faced formidable opposition, including a Polish athlete who had won bronze at the 1980 Olympics. Rising to the challenge, Finegan cleared a higher height to claim a superb bronze medal for Ireland.

In the 60m hurdles, she progressed confidently through the heats, finishing second in 10.4 seconds to reach the final, where she placed fourth against strong competition.

The 400m followed, requiring both a heat and a semi-final. Finnegan again finished second with ease, clocking under 69 seconds to advance to the final the following day.

Shortly after, she made the quick transition to the javelin arena, located 800 metres from the track. There, she produced an excellent series of throws to take silver behind Germany’s Dr Angela Muller, with former world champion Petra Herman in third.

The result was particularly satisfying, as Finnegan had only begun focusing her training on javelin earlier this year. In the triple jump, fatigue began to play a factor after the 400m effort.

Despite this, Finegan delivered a strong final-round jump that briefly placed her in silver position, only to be edged back into fourth by just two centimetres. Narrowly missing her national record, she remained pleased given the circumstances.

One of her standout moments came in the pole vault, her favourite event, where she claimed gold, equalling her Irish record of 2.60 metres. Sweden took second place, with France in third.

After a well-earned rest day, Finegan returned for the pentathlon - five events in a single day.

Having already completed nine events, she showed immense determination to secure silver behind Germany’s Barbara Gayling, who broke the world record with a dominant performance.

Ireland’s Tina Gallagher also impressed, taking bronze with a personal best. On the final day, Finnegan was part of the Irish 4x200m relay team. Despite fatigue, she delivered a personal best split of 30.5 seconds.

Ireland produced a superb team performance, finishing in 2:01 and defeating the reigning world record holders, Great Britain, by 10 metres to claim the European title.

Meanwhile, Brian Lynch also excelled, winning silver in the 3000m before going one better in the 1500m, where he took gold in commanding fashion, crossing the line at least 15 metres clear of his nearest rival.

In total, North East Runners AC celebrated seven medals between their two athletes - a fantastic achievement for the club, Dundalk, and Irish masters athletics.

Finegan paid tribute to her coaching team, thanking Eric, Sid, Jeng, and Norbert for their continued support and guidance.

Speaking after the event, Finegan told the Dundalk Democrat: "This is the same place that Kate O'Connor won her bronze medal in pentathlon as her first coach from when she was seven years old.

"It was nice to also do the same event, the pentathlon, and come home with the silver medal. The World record was broken twice in it by the winner, she jumped a new WR in the high jump, and her overall points tally was a new record.

"A world record was made by a girl from Germany, her standing throw in shot put was three metres more than anyone else, so the silver medal was the best I could do this time."