Sligo’s Olympic hopeful Mary Cullen will attempt to run the qualifying time for Rio in the women’s 5000 metres at a special event in IT Sligo this Thursday (June 23rd).
A special 5,000m race is being set up and paced for the Drumcliffe woman at the Institute’s athletics arena.
Cullen (pictured), who is a former European Indoor Championships bronze medallist (2009), is currently just two seconds outside the olympic qualifying standard for Rio of 15mins 24secs.
She will be racing against a number of international elite athletes, which include Jennifer Wenth from Austria who was 10th in the World Champs last year, Kristiina Maki, the World Student Games champion, and GB cross country superstar Kate Avery.
Mary is bidding to become Sligo’s first ever female Olympian and only the second representative from the county after cyclist Mark Scanlon who competed for Ireland at the 2004 Athens Games.
Thursday’s event, which is open to the public, will be broadcast live on Ocean FM and will feature a number of races beforehand.
The action begins at 7pm with Mary’s race scheduled for 9pm.