SHANE Howard made headlines during the lockdown when he was pictured jumping over hay bales on the family farm in Rathcormac – and he put all that training to good use at the national senior championships in Santry recently.
The Bandon AC man successfully defended his men’s long jump Irish title with a giant leap of 7.44m to beat Adam McMullen (7.31m) and Ben Fisher (7.24m).
This latest gold medal confirmed Howard’s standing as the best long jumper in the country, and he was glad to have the chance to compete given how the year has unfolded.
‘Other than this we'd have nothing. It's great to have these championships. I only had two competitions prior to this and I was lucky that they even went ahead so it’s great to have these championships organised and to be able to compete,’ explained Howard.
His outdoor PB is 7.64m but the windy conditions last weekend made life tricky for all the competitors.
‘The conditions were a bit difficult but it was good to take the win,’ he said.
