Costello wins national title at Santry

Meath man best in 1500 metres final Star of the Sea athlete Colin Costello won the men's 1500m final at the Woodies DIY National Championships at Santry on Sunday recording a time of 3.54.57. Costello says the rediscovery of a fun element in his running helped him to land his first major victory in senior athletes. The Meath athlete edged out Eoin Everard from the Kilkenny City Harriers who clocked up 3.54.59. The margin could hardly have been thinner. It was a significant victory for Costello who says he became seriously disillusioned with running during the four years he spent on an athletics scholarship in Arkansas University. Now he's got the sparkle back. Costello, who won the European Junior 1500m in 2005, spent four years in the United States however he was disappointed not to make as much progress as he hoped. "It was difficult, tough going at times, you realise that you're just a number, you're judged only on what you're winning," he told the Meath Chronicle on Monday. "I was a young kid going out and it was difficult to make the transition and I became a little disillusioned with the sport. I was 18 and racing people who were 24 or 25 and they're drumming you into the ground, it's hard to get your head around that. "I came back I was questioning myself and it took me a while to just get the fun back into my running and that's what I did this year and it has paid off. "I think if you just go out and try to have fun and enjoy running it's a lot easier than putting pressure on yourself to win all the time." Now back in Ireland two years Costello has sought to rebuild his career and for the past 12 months or so he has combined his athletics with working with his father who is a fisherman. He feels that compared to the physical exertions required in the fishing business running is "a doddle" and now he's hoping to build on his Santry success which was only his second track race of the season. He took part in an 800m event in the Meath League on the Claremont Stadium track as part of his preparations for the national championships. Costello also won the South O'Hanlon 5km Road Race in a time of 15 minutes 22 seconds last Wednesday night. At the weekend he easily won his heat on Saturday in a time of 3.53.36 to ensure he was among the finalists the next day. "I knew I was in good nick and I was going to be there or thereabouts on Sunday, I felt good, although it's hard to know because some of the other athletes had run a good bit quicker than I had run. "I just put myself in there and it was kind of rough and tumble for most of the race, it was slow and there were a lot of elbows, you just had to hold your ground." Costello did just that timing his run perfectly, moving to the front coming up to the bell. He was passed going down the back stretch, but he found an extra gear. "At that stage I went again eyeballs out and dived across the line, it just happened to be enough to win," he added. Looking to the future Costello is hoping to use his national title to broaden his horizon and gain entry to bigger races. He plans to take part in a 1500m race in Cork later this month. Then it's back to Dublin for the Morton Mile. He's also hoping to land some sponsorship that will go a long way to re-launching his athletics career.