Harry Purcell was in action for Ireland in Poland this weekend.

Purcell in action for Ireland in Poland

Trim athlete Harry Purcell was in action this weekend with the Irish team in the 4x400m relay at the European u-23 Athletics Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland this weekend.

Although the team finished out of the medals the team took seventh position in the final today.

The men's team was Craig Newell (Ballymena & Antrim), Harry Purcell (Trim), Karl Griffin (UCD) and Andrew Mellon (Crusaders) and they finished in a time of 3:08.64 today after qualifying on Saturday. 

The men were first on track in the semi-final of the relay on Saturday where Newell started the team out handing over to Purcell who took the baton sweetly into his left hand before switching to his right to run an aggressive leg to hand over to Griffin, the third runner.. 

Griffin held form and ran a good last 150m to hand over to Mellon who ran a rapid first 200m to close the gap on the Italians in third. He ran a tactically savvy leg and was just short of automatic qualification.

The time of 3:07.63 proved more than enough to qualify them as fourth fastest qualifiers.

The Irish women were also in action in the 4x400m relay and finished sixth overall.

INTERVIEW WITH RELAY TEAM TAKEN FROM ATHLETICS IRELAND FB