A DOUBLE act from David Gillick in winning the 400 metres and yet another national record by Paul Hession in the 100 metres were the stand out performances by the Irish at the European Cup First League in Vaasa, Finland yesterday.

Hession, a medical student from Galway, smashed his own mark in the short sprint, giving another example of the rapid improvement he has made this year.

The 24-year-old Hession knocked a tenth of a second off his month old mark in finishing a close second to the Dutchman, Guus Hoogmoed, in a time of 10.18 seconds, breaking the record of 10.28 which he set in Greece three weeks ago. His time is also inside the A standard for the World Championships.

It was another indication of how Hession has improved as a sprinter, as he also broke the Irish indoor 60 metres record a number of times en route to the European Championship final. Yesterday he was closing all the way on Hoegmoed, who ran a personal best in 10.15 seconds.

The wind reading of 1.90 mps was just inside the allowable 2.0, a relief to Hession as he was denied the Irish 200 metres record of 20.53 in Oslo last week. However he can claim the 200 m etres mark of 20.54 today.

Gillick was always going to be Ireland's best chance of a winner and the powerful 23year-old double European indoor champion did not disappoint as he repeated his victory of two years ago in Portugal by demolishing his seven opponents. It was a stroll for Gillick in the end as he came powering home a clear winner in 46.24 with second placed Youssef el Rhalfiouni of Holland well behind in 47.43.

Gillick was the fastest in the field and he looked a class apart. Just a few minutes earlier Joanne Cuddihy had her first 400 metres of the season and the Kilkenny medical student ran well, finishing second to hurdles star Lee McConnell of Britain in 52.81, a time that she is going to improve on all summer. Cuddihy had a big handicap yesterday as she was drawn on the outside and may have gone off too fast.

Cuddihy later ran a leg for the 4x100 metres relay team that dropped from second to third when Britain were reinstated after initially being disqualified. Hession did likewise in the men's event but they finished a disappointing fifth.

Dave Campbell was involved in a frantic sprint in the last lap of a tactical 1,500 metres and while he battled all the way to the line he just lost out to the Spaniard Arturo Casado, w ho won in 3:56.38, four tenths of a second ahead of Campbell.

Earlier, the Irish got off to a poor start when Padraig White finished last in the hammer with 58.95 metres. There was a slight improvement from Michelle Carey when she finished fifth in the women's 400 metre hurdles in the windy conditions. Orla Drumm also ran a creditable race to finish fifth in the 3,000 metres but the overall results meant Ireland had no chance of gaining promotion.