McKiernan's hopes poor

Catherina McKiernan is almost certain to miss the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin. A persistent lower back injury continues to restrict her training and has left her with no realistic chance of returning to competitive running in time for the Leopardstown event, which is now just under 11 weeks away.

McKiernan has been consistently sidelined with injury for the last 18 months. An ankle problem last January forced her to cancel her plans for a spring marathon, then her back problem led her to withdraw from the Sydney Olympics. Despite long periods of rest and treatment, that problem has been slow to disappear.

McKiernan is now making frequent trips to Limerick to receive treatment from leading sports injury therapist Gerard Hartmann. He has put her on a special recovery programme which he is confident will solve the problem. However, it will keep her out of full training until April at the earliest.

"It is a slow process," says Hartmann. "But it's a worthwhile process. She has made good progress over the last few weeks and is now running up to an hour. There is no reason why she can't get back to the top level, but it will be early April before she can get back to the sort of training that she needs to do in order to start racing competitively again."

"I'm still not able to run painfree at the moment," says McKiernan. "I'd like to think I could run in Leopardstown to help the Irish team, but I'm not sure how much longer it will take before the injury totally clears up. It is very disappointing. I am still very eager to get back competing but it is hard when you go out every day and it's painful to run."

Sonia O'Sullivan is almost certain to compete in the long-course race. The addition of a fit McKiernan, who won four successive silver medals in the world championships between 1992 and 1995, would have added significant weight to the chances of an Irish team medal.

O'Sullivan, who is currently undertaking altitude training near Melbourne, will compete in the Australian cross country championships on January 26th.

The full schedule for Leopardstown, meanwhile, will be announced at the racecourse tomorrow.