Vaulter Brown gets Irish call-up

Zoe Brown set her personal best of 4.26m indoors in 2004

Antrim pole vaulter Zoe Brown will compete for Ireland in the European Cup 1st League meeting in Portugal later this month.

Brown has opted to declare for Ireland and she gets the call-up for the meeting in Leiria.

Kelly Reid (800m), Mary McCloone (triple jump) and Amy Foster (4x100m) will also travel with the Irish women.

With David Gillick opting for the 200m, Paul McKee will run the 400m for the Irish men in Tallin, Estonia.

Jason Smyth and Paul Brizzel are selected for the 4x100m relay while the squad also includes North Down field eventers Jeremy Harper (discus) and Michael McConkey (javelin).

McKee will be involved in his second 4x400m meeting in a week in Estonia.

The Belfastman and Gillick will travel after Thursday's meeting in Ostrava to Namur in Belgium for Saturday's meeting.

McKee, Gillick, Gordon Kennedy and Brian Doyle will be aiming to boost their chances of qualifying in the relay for Beijing by running a time below 3:03.00.

The current Irish record of 3:03.73 was set at the European Championships in 2002 when McKee was joined by Robert Daly, Antoine Burke and David McCarthy.