Information on Loughborough

Loughborough International Athletics

Posted on 20/05/2008
Rhys

Martyn Rooney

Loughborough University saw a prestigious line up of athletes on Sunday (18th May 2008) as the Loughborough International Athletics meeting took place.

A series of impressive performances by Loughborough athletes and an Olympic 400m qualifying time by student Martyn Rooney helped the University claim its first Loughborough International Athletics meet victory of the last two decades. 

Loughborough forged an early lead at the accenture LIA and kept off a determined comeback from favourites England to win by 15 points with a final score of 182. The combined team of current students and University alumni won 17 of the 38 match events to win for the first time since the 1980s, also winning the overall men’s crown on their way to victory.

Many Beijing Olympic hopefuls competed in over 70 events on the track and field at what has become a major fixture on the athletics calender.

Loughborough’s Martyn Rooney (pictured above) goal for the 400m in the opening event of the season was to gain a qualifying time for the Beijing games, which he did, setting a record for the meeting which is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary. His winning time of 45.46s bodes well for the athlete who broke Roger Black’s junior record. "Loughborough is not the quickest track and it was very windy,” he said. “It bodes really well for the year and Im excited."