Catherina McKiernan is set to run two marathons in the coming year following confirmation of her intention to seek a second success in the London marathon on April 18th.

Originally, it was thought that her next race at the distance would be in the Sydney Olympics but after consultations with her advisers she has now decided to run in London.

It means that she is almost certain to be unavailable for the World Cross Country Championship in March and with Sonia O'Sullivan also unlikely to be on the start line Ireland's prospects of making a meaningful challenge for team honours may be seriously damaged.

"With a gap of almost six months to the Sydney Olympics the timing is just about right and all things considered it seemed the right decision for me to make," she said yesterday. "Once it had been decided that I should run a second marathon London seemed the obvious place for me to go.

"It's a good course, the atmosphere is always great and having enjoyed myself so much when I ran there in 1997 I'm happy to be going back."

McKiernan, who is anxious to stress that she did not suffer an injury in finishing 12th in the Chicago Marathon in October, is currently undertaking a full work load in training with the intention of running two or three races before the big London event.

The first of them could be in the next few weeks but at the moment it's unclear whether they will be in cross country competition or on the road. "It's a question of finding the races which suit me and we'll take it from there," she said.

"Ray Flynn is working closely with Joe Doonan to get the right competition for me and there is a chance that I will run before Christmas. At this point, however, I'm not in a position to say if will be on the road or over the country."

McKiernan, successful in her first three marathons starts in Berlin, London and Amsterdam before encountering problems in Chicago, was one of three new "signings" announced yesterday by the organisers of the big London race.

Also on course to run there are the Mexican, Adriana Fernandez, a winner of the recent New York marathon, and the mature Portuguese athlete Manuela Machado who is almost certainly the most consistent of all women marathon runners.

Machado, winner of the World Championship in 1995 and the reigning European title holder at the distance, has yet to win the London event after three attempts but at 37 believes she is still capable of one last big challenge.

Added to the earlier entries of Tecla Loroupe and Joyce Chepchumba yesterday's announcement makes this the most competitive London race of them all, a point acknowledged by the race organiser, David Bedford.

"All the leading runners have good records in the race and all are highly competitive it should make for a great race next April," he said.