ATHLETICS: It is odd, given Ireland's history in middle- to long-distance running, that a shamrock- spangled city like New York has seen such little Irish  involvement or success in its annual marathon.

All that began to change yesterday when the press conferences held in Central Park had a distinctly Irish flavour.

With Eamonn Coghlan, still a blue chip name in this city, watching from the back of the room, Sonia O'Sullivan and Mark Carroll discussed their prospects and intentions. Star of the proceedings, as usual, was O'Sullivan whose first serious marathoning attempt has drawn serious attention and is already inviting questions about a possible lucrative showdown with friend Paula Radcliffe.

O'Sullivan has been in the States for a week, training at her alma mater, Villanova, where she was joined on Tuesday for a run by Marcus O'Sullivan.

Following Radcliffe's astonishing run at last month's Chicago marathon, interest in the marathoning performances of well-known track runners is high at the moment, and O'Sullivan held forth on the matter at length.

"A long time ago people felt that once they ran a marathon they never went back to track, they felt they'd slowed. I think it's a new option for me, something I needed to go out and explore, see if it's good for me. I know the track is good for me and I know I can and will go back to it."

Was Radcliffe's successful marathon debut in London last year a persuading factor in O'Sullivan's decision to make a serious attempt at the distance (her 2:35 Dublin win in 2000 was virtually a training spin)?

"Paula's first marathon? I wouldn't say it was the marathon itself which inspired me but the fact that she came back and ran her best times ever on the track this summer. That gave me the confidence to run a marathon and not have any fears about not getting back for the World Championships next year and the Olympics in 2004."

As such she has made a serious and undiluted commitment to the distance for the past couple of months. She has retained the same structure to her training week but inevitably made alterations within it. On Tuesdays, she has continued with her now legendary track sessions, but has been making sure that the distance she runs aggregates to at least 10,000 metres. On Thursdays, she has been doing longer runs of 12 miles or so at marathon pace. On Saturdays, she does the familiar short-and-fast work of the track athlete and believes that this work makes the more measured marathon mile a little easier.

Inevitably, Radcliffe's achievement in Chicago was aired for comparison. Are you daunted by it? "How do you mean?" replied O'Sullivan, a stranger to the concept of being daunted.

"The times she's been running?"

"No. I don't think it's impossible to go under two hours 20 minutes any more. She has opened up the doors for all women runners. If you are a world class marathon runner now you should be able to get under 2:20. That was a benchmark. Now it's gone, people believe they can get under it."

Getting under that mark in New York will be exceptionally difficult. Despite the widespread misunderstanding of the provenance of Chicago's nickname, the Windy City (it relates to the native tendency to self-aggrandise), the marathon there is held over a fast course with virtually no hills and comparatively little wind. New York, by contrast, is slow and cruel. As the runners snake through the five boroughs they cross five major bridges each, with an uphill incline, and encounter every variety of unhelpful winds. As such, O'Sullivan was preaching caution.

"If it was a 5k road race I'd be very confident. I have to expect the unexpected. I can't say 'I'm in the best shape of my life and that I'm going to win this', because so many factors come into play in a marathon. The course isn't a simple course, lots of things come into play, hills and turns, etc. A lot of the other girls are quite experienced in the race. I'll just go with it. You have to conquer the marathon and the race within it."

For Mark Carroll, the other half of the Cork contingent here, the priorities are a little different. In a quality field, and after a year yet again discoloured by injuries, Carroll returns to the city which has seen some of his best successes.

"I've always had a curiosity about this. I've been talked out of it a couple of times. Part of it is I respect athletes who have had the ability to move up through distances. I like to think I'm versatile that way. My range of track times are more or less as good as they'll be. I'm 30. The marathon is the next one. This is my first. I'll definitely do another one on a flatter course. This is about doing a marathon and experiencing it."

He is still getting the familiar soreness in his knees, and after more surgery this summer the remedy has become more drastic. Whatever the elements bring on Sunday, Mark Carroll will be unperturbed.

"I have to take ice baths four or five times a week, so nothing else seems too bad. I sit up to my waist in ice, with a pair of rubber gloves on my feet. I drink a cup of hot tea and read a few pages of Roy Keane's book and think to myself that Roy would tough it out!"

The race, which attracts 30,000 runners and 2.5 million spectators, starts on Sunday morning, and O'Sullivan and Carroll felt that it had the feeling in terms of anticipation of a major championship race. Two good performances would represent the start of a new and different era in Irish athletics.