O'Sullivan in peak form as New York approaches

These days Sonia O'Sullivan is in such total marathon mode that a five-mile road race will merely stretch the legs. So before coming to Loughrea for yesterday's Great Ireland Run, she ran for two-and-a-half hours - - normally the last thing an athlete would do the day before a race.

"Yeah, that wasn't ideal preparation," she said, drawing a smile. "But I thought it was better to do it the day before the race, rather than the day after. And you have to do these things in the build-up to the marathon."

Not that the exhaustive training run in any way hindered her dominance on the women's result. In clocking 25 minutes 30 seconds, O'Sullivan came home almost 90 seconds clear of second-placed Pauline Curley, with only 14 male runners ahead of her in a field of over 1,000. Seamus Power also made it an Irish double by taking the men's race in 23.31.

On the day when Paula Radcliffe was giving the women's world marathon record its most substantial rewriting since 1985, it was another perfect tune-up for O'Sullivan - and her final race - before her own attempt at the 26.2-mile distance in three weeks. And from now until New York on November 3rd the training will start to taper down.

"I was glad to get in another hard run like that," she added, "which is not always easy to do on your own in training. And I was happy to be able to fit this race into my preparations, just to support it, and to be a part of it from a team point of view as well.

"But I had rested up a bit before the Great North Run last Sunday, and got back into hard training last week, so I was a bit tired coming here. I felt very good there last Sunday after resting up, and I can definitely feel the difference when I do ease up like that, which is good to know before New York."

There seems to be little fear in O'Sullivan ahead of her first major test over the marathon distance.

"Everything has gone right up now, so it's mostly just keeping the fingers crossed, and hoping you don't step in a pothole or anything like that. A big race like New York also feels the same as a big championship in that all the focus is on one big race, and it's the person who gets everything right on the day that usually wins."

Other factors in the marathon, such as drinking water, have also been tactfully practised. Water stations were included in Saturday's two-and-a-half hour run, which was done around Limerick after a check-up from one of Gerard Hartmann's assistants (the man himself being in Chicago working with Radcliffe).

"I have run up to 24 miles in training now and I know I can go the distance. But I also know those last couple of miles will be hard no matter what the pace. The other important thing is to be as patient as possible in the first half of the race. But I'm learning to stay relaxed for as long as possible, and hopefully feel really good over the last 10km."

For Power, yesterday's victory - equally as popular as O'Sullivan's - came at a different point of his season. In his first race since the disappointing experience at the European Championships in Munich, the Clare athlete is building towards cross county and seems intent on regaining his best form.

Having been beaten into second place by Peter Mathews last year, Power was particularly hungry for a win in Loughrea, and in the end he did it in style. Scotland's Andy Caine was in pole position as the leaders came up the main street for the finish, but Power had the greater desire to win and surged in front over the last 400 metres.

Dundrum's Noel Berkeley, just a month short of his 38th birthday but refusing to slow down, produced a similarly gutsy finish and also passed Caine to take second in 23.33. Combined with O'Sullivan, it meant Ireland were comfortable winners of the team race ahead of England.

Meanwhile, Gillian O'Sullivan and Olive Loughnane failed to finish the 20km race at the World Race Walking Cup in Turin, Italy, at the weekend. After her fourth place finish at the European Championships in Munich in August, O'Sullivan had particularly high ambitions, but her best form clearly abandoned her on this occasion.

GREAT IRELAND RUN (in Loughrea) - Men: 1 S Power (Kilmurry-Ibrickane/Irl) 23.31, 2 N Berkeley (Dundrum-South Dublin/Irl) 23.33, 3 A Caine (Sco) 23.36, 4 D Galvin (St John's)23.39, 5 C Davis (WAL) 23.43, 6 D Bannister (Eng) 23.58, 7 P McNamara (Galway City Harriers) 24.29, 8 G Ryan (Galway City Harriers) 24.36, 9 M Roberts (WAL) 25.00, 10 N Kelly (Mullingar) 25.12. Women: 1 S O'Sullivan (Ballymore-Cobh AC/Irl) 25.30, 2 P Curley (Tullamore/Irl) 26.56, 3 A Kealy (Raheny Shamrocks) 27.17, 4 M Pannett (Eng) 27.31.