Athlete shocked at being left out of team

ATHLETICS:  Breda Dennehey-Willis yesterday expressed her shock and disappointment at being omitted from the Irish team for the World Cross Country Championships.

It was expected that she would be entered in the women's short-course race, but was instead listed as first reserve when Athletics Ireland named the Irish teams on Sunday night.

The Florida-based athlete decided not to take part in Sunday's short-course trials at Dublin's ALSAA Complex, a decision that has clearly backfired.

But she was confident that her current form would be enough to secure her place in the six-athlete team and had already made costly travel arrangements to return home for the Leopardstown event on March 23rd-24th.

"Well I honestly felt that I had the credentials and the right form to be selected on the short-course team," she said. "When I heard the news on Sunday night I nearly broke down with the disappointment. I had been preparing for the race for the last five months and I felt like I was peaking at the right time."

Last week Dennehy-Willis clocked 15 minutes 36.32 seconds in a 5,000 metres track race in Florida, and although she did have a disappointing run at the European Cross Country Championships before Christmas, she has been one of Ireland's most consistent distance runners in recent years.

In the absence of fellow Cork athlete Sonia O'Sullivan last year, she was the fastest Irish woman over 5,000 and 10,000 metres - on both road and track. The 32-year-old was also at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the World Championships in Edmonton last summer.

Team manager Jerry Kiernan had recommended Dennehy-Willis for selection, and though he wasn't part of the AAI selection committee, he was surprised when she omitted from the team.

"Well I would be very disappointed that Breda is not part of the team," said Kiernan, "because I do feel that on the day she has the potential to be one of out top three finishers. And she has been running well enough recently to do that."

Gareth Turnbull was forced to miss the men's short-course trials on Sunday because of a minor back injury but was still named on the Irish team. Partly on the advice of Kiernan, he decided against risking further aggravation of the injury and instead will focus all his efforts on the Leopardstown event in just under a fortnight's time.