Mark Carroll and James Nolan, the first two across the finish line in the Wanamaker Mile in Madison Square Garden last weekend, will renew rivalry in the national indoor championships at Nenagh next Sunday.
On this occasion, however, they will compete over 800 metres, Nolan's specialist distance and the one at which he aspires to win a medal in the European indoor championships at Ghent later in the month.
Carroll, by contrast, is preparing to take his chance in the 3,000 metres in Belgium, and towards that end will run in a 1,500 metres in Athens this evening.
Among those lining up with him will be the experienced Italian Genarro De Napoli and Moses Kigen of Kenya, but after winning so cleverly in New York the Cork man is up for the challenge.
After Nenagh, Carroll may run in Birmingham, but his priority is to arrive in Ghent in the kind of condition which will give him a real chance of winning his first major indoor title.
If Peter Coghlan's participation in the hurdles championship is still in doubt, the Nenagh programme is by some way the most auspicious indoor promotion ever undertaken in this country. That development is influenced, no doubt, by the fact that the squad for Ghent will be named immediately afterwards.
Gareth Turnbull, who has won his last three races in the style of an athlete on a flood tide of confidence, is the favourite for the 1,500 metres, the distance at which he is likely to make his bid for European fulfilment in Belgium.
Donal McCarthy, fresh from a national record of 6.81 seconds in the 60 metres, is the man they all have to beat in the sprint, and at 200 metres Gary Ryan is on course for another title, probably at the expense of Paul Brizzel and Tom Comyns. In the women's programme, Ciara Sheehy and Karen Shinkens should be among the winners.
It was confirmed yesterday that a talented Kenyan team headed by Charles Kamathi will take part in Ras na hEireann at Dunleer on March 26th. Kamathi recently beat his compatriot Patrick Ivuti and is expected to be one of the strongest contenders for the world championship in the Algarve in March.
