O'Rourke and Gillick set target

Athletics/News:As summer returned to Dublin's Merrion Square yesterday it was interesting to observe David Gillick and Derval O'Rourke go through a photo shot for a new Spar campaign.

To passers-by they were clearly familiar, yet recognition wasn't instantaneous. Irish athletes still have a tendency to be front-page news one day and then forgotten the next.

It's almost three months since Gillick won the European Indoor 400-metre title in Birmingham, and over nine months since O'Rourke won the European silver medal in the 100-metre hurdles in Gothenburg.

Both athletes are ready to resume business. There's only one event they want to be successful in this summer, and that's the World Championships in Osaka at the end of August.

Gillick has his first outdoor 400 metres of the season in Glasgow on Sunday while O'Rourke runs over the 100 metres flat at the Papaflessia meeting in Greece on Saturday.

Gillick seemed acutely aware of the difficulties in bridging the gap between indoor and outdoor success, and also between European and World level - yet at 23 he's still got time on his side.

"It is a monumental challenge that is ahead of me," he admitted, "but I'm looking forward to it . . . I've learned an awful lot about myself over the last two years and I've made some tough decisions, like leaving home, changing coaches, things like that. When I won my first indoor title it not alone surprised me but many in the sport, including the media.

"After I won in Birmingham I just took it in my stride. I was a lot more focused on my main goal for the year ahead, which is running well this summer, including Osaka. I think I'm a lot better prepared. I've been to California for a four-week training stint and that went really well."

O'Rourke is happy to start out over the 100 metres flat, knowing she'll need to improve her Irish record of 12.72 just to make the hurdles final in Osaka. "The way I look at it I will need to run 12.60 in the semi-final and then 12.5 if I hope to medal in the final" she said. "I feel that improvement will come through not being injured and not getting sick because last year I missed 10 weeks before the start of the summer season. I do need to get faster over the 100 and if I can get down to 11.40 then it's going to make it that bit easier to run 12.50 in the hurdles. My best is 11.54, which I don't consider to be fast enough if I'm to make the final."

There will be more important stop-offs on the way to Osaka, including some IAAF Golden League meetings (Oslo for O'Rourke, and Rome for Gillick) and the Cork City Sports on June 30th.

The Spar campaign, entitled "Sprint to Japan", will run in over 400 stores around the country and offer several prize-winning trips to Osaka.