McKiernan to skip world cross country

Catherina McKiernan has confirmed her intention to skip this year's World Cross Country Championships in Morocco and concentrate all of her efforts on the London Marathon, which takes place at the end of April.

The decision will have been a painful one for the 28-yearold from Cavan who had finished second four times in nine assaults on the world title and led the Irish team to a bronze medal last year. But, said her brother Peadar when announcing the news yesterday, the ease with which she had taken to marathon running had tended to make the decision inevitable.

"The run in Berlin was so good that she had to look again at her priorities and as the second-fastest debutante in the event ever, the marathon has started to look a lot more attractive," he said.

After tomorrow's road race in Paris, the Rasna hEireann International Cross Country in Dunleer on February 1st and the Lisbon half-marathon on March 15th will form the core of McKiernan's preparations for London.

"She would have loved to have run in the World Championships as well, but it really wasn't practical to attempt both," her brother said.

McKiernan's decision, which was taken in conjunction with her coach Joe Doonan, underlines a shift in direction which might have been expected since her performance in Germany.

There, on September 28th, she produced a stunning performance to win in a time of 2:23.44, a time bettered only in the world last year by Tegla Loroupe of Kenya and one which was more than a minute quicker than the best produced by the world's third-ranked runner over the distance, Russia's Madina Biktagirova. It was also almost three minutes faster than Joyce Chepchumba's winning time in last year's London race.

Since Berlin, McKiernan has shown excellent form in both road and cross country events. In the build-up to Christmas, she put together a long unbeaten series of runs on tarmac, while at the IAAF International Cross Country Race in Durham on January 3rd, she coasted home at the front of a quality field which included Sally Barsosio and Paula Radcliffe.

For those in doubt, McKiernan's announcement yesterday has given a clear indication of where she now believes her long-term future to lie.