African dominance hits new heights

Athletics/World Cross Country:  On the weekend when African dominance of the World Cross Country Championships was reinforced in total, the Irish suffered far more pain than gain in their efforts to make an impression on the team results.

It was left to Una English to salvage some crumbs of pride with her 16th-place finish in yesterday's short course race.

All 12 titles in Lausanne went to either Kenya or Ethiopia, with six each between individual and team honours, and the European challenge as a whole has rarely suffered a more gruelling experience. This, too, when the event was staged in the Alpine heart of Europe.

In fact, African nations won 34 of the 36 medals on offer over the two days. American Deena Drossin took silver in Saturday's women's long course race, and helped her team to the bronze, but elsewhere the Africans were simply untouchable.

And none more than Kenenisa Bekele, who repeated his individual double of a year ago. Still just 20, the Ethiopian first won Saturday's short course 4km race by out-sprinting a quartet of Kenyans. Then he returned yesterday to win the long course 12km race with almost ridiculous ease and composure, leaving the Kenyans chasing in vain.

From an Irish point of view the only true hopes lay in the women's short course race. Last year in Leopardstown, Sonia O'Sullivan led the team to bronze medals, and even in her absence this time there were hopes for a top-six finish. In the end the team finished in a tired and disappointed 11th place.

Though the course at the Swiss National Equestrian Centre just outside Lausanne was mostly flat and furiously fast, it was not too unlike Leopardstown and all six of the Irish started quite well. From the gun, though, it was English who put herself to the fore, and was sitting comfortably in the top 10 for the first of the two laps.

Around the second lap the pace inevitably quickened and that, combined with the unseasonably warm temperatures, set about undoing the Irish challenge. Anne Keenan-Buckley, who finished 10th last year, dropped back to finish 42nd. Next home was Valerie Vaughan in 72nd and then Breeda Dennehy-Willis in 79th. The team totalled 162 points, far above of the 61 points that saw Morocco win bronze behind Kenya and Ethiopia.

For English, however, the 16th-place finish was easily the best individual result of her life. She was part of the Irish team that won bronze medals at the 1997 championships in Turin, though, at 32, she has also suffered her fair share of disappointments.

Yesterday she ran with the sort of determination and confidence she has always promised. She kept all her form for the demanding second lap and at the finish was just 35 seconds behind Kenyan's Edith Masai, who successfully defended her title by out-kicking Ethiopia's Werknesh Kidane - winner of Saturday's long course race.

Ireland broke tradition and had no representation in the men's long course race, but in current form that was probably just as well. Behind Bekele came another nine Africans before American Mebrahtom Keflezighi (actually Africa-born) in 10th place.

Instead the Irish men put all their hopes into Saturday's short course race - a decision which totally backfired. On the day the heel-blistering pace of the 4km race proved way beyond their ability and, strangely enough, Cork's Martin McCarthy, the national long course champion, was best Irish finisher in 74th position. "I just found that pace way too quick," he admitted.

Belfast's Dermot Donnelly was another eight places back, while completing the team score was Noel Berkeley (100th) and Robert Connolly (102nd). That left Ireland 17th of the 19 finishing teams, and behind such poor cross country nations as Eritrea (14th) and Egypt (16th).

Again the African presence up front was awesome. Behind Bekele was former Kenyan winner John Kibowen and countryman Benjamin Limo, with the team finish of Kenya-Ethiopia-Morocco all too familiar.

The results of the two junior races maintained the African dominance, but Fionnuala Briton - the sole Irish entrant in the junior women - ran very impressively to take 33rd place. For the Leaving-Cert student from Wicklow it was also the first Irish finish inside the top 40 since Margaret Synott back in 1989.

For Mark Christie, national junior champion, the men's junior race was the ultimate in hard experiences and he failed to finish. Incredibly, Africans filled the top 22 places in that race. For most Europeans then Lausanne was a truly humbling experience.