Catherina McKiernan will not be on the starting line to spearhead Ireland's challenge for a top-three placing when the European Cross Country Championships take place in Slovenia on December 12th.
McKiernan, a former European champion, has been pre-selected for every Ireland squad up to the Olympic Games at Sydney, providing she meets the normal racing fitness requirements.
Unfortunately, that is not now the case for when Irish Athletics Association (IAA) officials enquired about her availability for Slovenia, they were told that she is still recovering from an injury sustained in the Chicago Marathon last month.
The Cavan athlete was originally toying with the possibility of running a couple of cross country races as part of her build-up to the Sydney Games, but in the light of her fitness problems this year and the manner in which they impinged on her preparations for Chicago, that is now far from certain.
In her absence, the captaincy of the team will go to Rosemary Ryan, the 24-year-old Co Limerick athlete who ran so well to win the Intercounties Championship, her first national senior title, at Carrignavar last Sunday.
Athletes finishing in the top 16 in the European Championship will qualify for full state funding in the coming year and to that extent, Ryan, currently studying at the University of Limerick, will not lack incentive.
The first five across the line at Carrignavar will constitute the women's team. Athletes like Anne Keenan-Buckley, Maureen Harrington and Geraldine Hendricken are well-versed in the demands of international competition, but at the other end of the scale, Ryan and, to an even greater degree, Niamh Beirne will be hoping to use the occasion to put down benchmarks for the World Championships in March.
That the selectors were satisfied with the overall quality of Sunday's championships is further indicated by their decision to name the first six finishers in the men's championship to travel to Slovenia.
It means that half of the team will come from Antrim, thanks to some convincing performances by Dermot Donnelly, John Ferrin and, not least, the exceptionally talented Gareth Turnbull last Sunday. Turnbull will be making his first appearance in the European Cross Country Championship and his progress will be monitored closely.
The men's squad will be led by the redoubtable Seamus Power, now fully rehabilitated from the problems which overtook him last season, and no less than Martin McCarthy and Peter Matthews he will be expected to compete well.
After the pleasant news that Dublin is to stage the World Cross Country Championship in 2001, IAA officials were yesterday completing the financial package which enabled them to tender successfully in the first place.
An Irish delegation will attend a meeting of the International Athletics Association Federation council in February to inform them of their ambitious plans to make this one of the most successful of all world championships.
IRELAND: Men - Seamus Power, Martin McCarthy, Peter Matthews, Gareth Turnbull, Dermot Donnelly, John Ferrin. Women - Rosemary Ryan, Anne Keenan Buckley, Niamh Beirne, Maureen Harrington, Geraldine Hendricken.
