Irish runners show encouraging form

ATHLETICS: With the cross country season gradually building towards the World Championships in Lausanne in March, there were several hints at the weekend of possible Irish medal success.

Ann Keenan-Buckley and Maria McCambridge had encouraging performances in Saturday's Great North Cross Country in Newcastle, while Catherina McKiernan is now ready to continue her comeback at next Saturday's international event in Belfast.

Although the women's 6.8km race in Newcastle had been weakened by the withdrawal of Paula Radcliffe and the Ethiopian duo of Gete Wami and Derartu Tulu, the fourth and fifth places respectively for Keenan-Buckley and McCambridge are highly promising. Both athletes were part of the Irish team which won bronze medals in the World Championship short course race in Leopardstown last March, and if anything their form this season appears even better.

McCambridge displayed particularly strong determination over the snow-covered and at times treacherous course, leading out the first two laps and dropping everyone but Keenan-Buckley and the two Africans Edith Masai (Kenya) and Werknesh Kidane (Ethiopia).

Approaching the final lap the two Africans broke clear with Masai, the current world champion at the short course distance, winning in 23 minutes 39 seconds - a stride ahead of Kidane. Fatiha Baouf of Belgium, formerly of Morocco, managed to close down on the two Irish athletes on the last lap, but they both still finished well clear of the sixth place finisher.

With McCambridge growing in confidence, and Keenan-Buckley showing no signs of slowing down at age 40 (in fact, quite the contrary), it is already clear that another leading team placing is highly possible at the World Championships in March.

The addition of McKiernan to that Irish team would be huge. Having already come through an early season test in Belgium prior to Christmas, her long-awaited return to a major championships after four years of injury remains well on course and Saturday's race in Belfast should bring about further progression.

Irish team manager Jerry Kiernan has admitted that the team's focus at the World Championships will hinge entirely on what race Sonia O'Sullivan decides to run. Last year she focused on the short course, and her seventh place finish just 13 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter was the foundation of the bronze-medal winning performance.

On the men's side, Cork's Fiachra Lombard continued his rewarding season with a ninth-place finish in the 4.1km race in Newcastle. Though he did struggle with the early pace, Lombard closed down on the leaders on the last lap - including fellow Irishman Mark Kenneally, whom he just edged out on the line.

Victory went to England's Rob Whalley, though nowhere near as comfortable as Kenenisa Bekele in the 9.1km race. The 20-year-old Ethiopian and reigning double-world champion eased away from the elite field to win by 15 seconds from Kenya's Sammy Kipketer.