Cragg out of team for Japan

Athletics: Despite finishing fourth in arguably the most competitive event at last weekend's World Indoor Championships, Alistair Cragg has turned down the chance to convert his superb form to the world cross-country.

Athletics Ireland had originally selected Cragg for the event, which is being staged in Fukuoka, Japan, on April 1st and 2nd, but he informed them yesterday of his decision not to travel.

Thus Ireland are left with no runners in the senior short-course races and just the reigning national senior champions (Vinnie Mulvey and Maria McCambridge) and Rosemary Ryan contesting the long-course races.

The national junior champions, Stephen Scullion and Sara Treacy, are set for their first taste of the world cross-country.

All in all, the travelling party of five runners is Ireland's smallest representation in the 34-year history of the championships.

Cragg had deliberately deferred a decision on Japan until after his 3,000-metre final in Moscow last Sunday, where his brave effort fell just short of a medal.

After returning to his US base in Arkansas on Tuesday he discussed the world cross-country with his coach John McDonnell. They decided after some deliberation to give it a miss.

The main reason was all the travelling involved. It took Cragg 33 hours to travel back home from Moscow, and despite making such an impressive return to form he just felt Fukuoka was too far to go for a four-kilometre race.

"I have been feeling very tired since I got back," he explained, "both physically and emotionally. But I'm also very happy with the way things went in Moscow, so I don't want to risk any injury or illness at this stage.

"I want to give myself every chance of being in great shape for the summer track season, and especially the European championships in Gothenburg.

"I'd like to have run the world cross, but I think this is the wise decision."

The only downside about Cragg's decision is that he may well have missed his best chance to medal in the event. From next year, when the championships go to Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa, the event reverts to its original two-race (instead of four-race) and one-day format: 12 kilometres for men and eight kilometres for women.

For Cragg, however, the 12km race is possibly a little long, while the depth of African talent from next year on will be even greater.

The 4km short-course race was introduced in 1998 (the year Sonia O'Sullivan famously won the double) with the idea of breaking up African dominance. But the Africans simply dominated both races. So last year the IAAF agreed to scrap the short race, thus returning the world cross-country to its traditional status as the most difficult distance race in the world.

Cragg's only other appearance in the event was in Brussels two years ago, where he finished 16th.

He had planned on going to France last year after his European indoor 3,000m win but the lower-back injury that ended up ruining the rest of his season forced him to withdraw.

Clearly, he didn't want to risk any repeat of that by travelling all the way to Japan.

IRISH TEAM FOR FUKUOKA: Men's long course - V Mulvey (Raheny); Women's long course - M McCambridge (Dundrum South Dublin), R Ryan (Bilboa, Limerick); Junior men - S Scullion (North Belfast); Junior women - S Treacy (Moynalvey AC).