Cullen gets some consolation

ATHLETICS:WINNING THE Antrim International Cross Country on Saturday gave Mary Cullen some consolation for her disappointing show at the European Championships last month, particularly as it came in such all-dominating fashion.

And tomorrow, Cullen heads to Australia for two months’ warm-weather training intent on making the ultimate amends at the European Championships in Barcelona in July.

Cullen did in Antrim what she’d hoped to do in Dublin last month, where she only managed 12th, exploding from the start to lead every step of the way – before winning just over half a minute clear from the experienced Hungarian Aniko Kalovics.

Jess Sparke was the first Briton home, finishing third, 10 seconds adrift of Kalovics, with the European champion Haley Yelling only taking fifth.

“I wanted it so badly in Dublin that I think I might just have stepped it too far, thinking that more, more, more, instead of thinking less is more, maybe. You live and learn through these things,” said the Sligo athlete.

“I just couldn’t get my head around what happened. I was searching for answers and talking to people and sometimes you just don’t have an answer.

“I talked to Sonia (O’Sullivan) and she explained about the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and how it went for her. You have to be just feisty going into a race and I just felt going into Dublin that I was almost tired and a little bit drained going in, and you aren’t going to get your best out then unfortunately.”

Fionnula Britton also ran a good race to finish fourth, while best of the Irish men on the day was Michael Mulhare, who finished 10th, behind the Kenyan winner Mike Kigen.

Elsewhere, Kelly Proper improved her Irish long jump record to 6.62 metres at the Vienna Indoor Gala yesterday, adding three centimetres to the mark set last year at the European Indoor Championships.

The jump is also over the qualifying standard of 6.60 metres for the World Indoor Championships which will be held in Doha, Qatar, in March.

Proper placed first in the meet ahead of Lauma Griva of Latvia, who jumped 6.27 metres. The Ferrybank athlete broke the record in her final jump after going close to the old record with a 6.55 metres in her fifth jump.