SONIA O'SULLIVAN said she was well pleased after winning the first race of her Australian tour, over 5,000 metres, at Canberra on Saturday.

Her winning time of 15 minutes 10.99 seconds was half a minute outside her Irish record, but given the modest quality of the opposition in a field made up almost exclusively of local runners, a fast time was never in prospect.

O'Sullivan went to the front from the start and by half way had already opened up a decisive lead. From that point, it was merely a training exercise. The victory was rewarding enough to hold out hope of significantly improved performances as the tempo of her season increases.

"This was my first track race in almost six months and it was good to win it as easy as I did," she said. "I plan to run at least three more races here and then I will make a decision about running in the world indoor championships."

David Matthews made it an Irish double when delivering a powerful challenge off the last bend to win the 800 metres from Australia's Paul Byrne in a time of one minute 47.26 seconds.

It was Matthews's first international win in more than a year.

After a fast first lap, he had sufficient left in reserve to catch Byrne, an Olympic semi finalist in Atlanta, down the finishing straight.