Anne Keenan Buckley from Co Laois, was yesterday promoted to Ireland's team to compete in the World Cross Country Championship at Marrakesh at the weekend. She owes her chance to the absence of the luckless UCC runner, Louise Cavanagh, second in the national championship, who has withdrawn because of flu.

It catches the mood of improvisation in the Irish squad in which the selectors have been forced to replace the first three across the line in the national men's championship - Peter Matthews, Noel Berkeley and Tom McGrath.

Matthews is out with flu after running in a 5,000 metres race in Italy last week while both Berkeley and McGrath are in training for the London marathon. The vacancies go to Cian McLoughlin, Colm de Burca and Padraic McKinney.