O'Sullivan promises to make it team effort

ATHLETICS/CROSS COUNTRY: On a day like this action speaks so much louder than words. Sonia O'Sullivan had come to Dublin with some final questions before committing herself to the World Cross-Country championship, and how quickly they were answered.

At the Irish short-course trials for Leopardstown, staged on the remarkably dry ALSAA surface, O'Sullivan was once again running at her most beautiful. Half way through the 4km race she was out in front and striding freely, leaving the best of the rest chasing second place.

Crossing the line in 12 minutes 46 seconds she had a good 100 metres to spare. Supporters were out in force, and all acknowledged the smoothness of O'Sullivan's latest renaissance - from an athlete, too, who just 11 weeks ago gave birth to her second daughter.

So she will be on the start line for the World Championships of March 23rd-24th. She is fast approaching her competitive best, and the home support in Leopardstown will have plenty of reason to cheer. But this time O'Sullivan is thinking more like a team player.

"Well I'll definitely run in Leopardstown now," she said afterwards, barely out of breath, "though I wouldn't say yet what my own ambitions are going to be in the race. I'm delighted that I ran so well here today, but I won't really know how well things are going until the finish line of the World Cross-Country.

"But I do have team ambitions. I'm going to be a team player this time, and I'm going to do everything I can to help us have the best possible performance in Leopardstown."

Clearly the championships will be a major step-up in O'Sullivan's return to the top of world athletics, but yesterday's opposition were no slouches. Maria McCambridge and Valerie Vaughan - who took second and third - have notable track credentials and Rosemary Ryan, second in the long-course trials a fortnight ago, found the pace particularly hard going and took fourth.

Only Anne Keenan-Buckley, the national champion, was missing from this mix but she will join O'Sullivan in the short-course team for Leopardstown - a team that has genuine medal potential. After some debate by the Irish selectors last night it was decided that Maureen Harrington, who finished fifth, would complete the six-athlete team at the expense of US based Breda Dennehy Willis, who missed yesterday's trials but had shown impressive form recently.

National champion Peter Mathews re-ignited his competitive fire of a fortnight ago to win the men's 4km title, though again he was pushed throughout - this time by his younger club-mate Robert Connolly. The Dundrum duo pulled away from the field in the early stages and, in the absence of Gareth Turnbull, turned it into a two-man race.

But the 21-year-old Connolly has threatened a run like this for a while now and was awarded for his effort with a place on the short- course team.

With Mathews concentrating on the long-course race, the next four finishers - Paul McNamara, Paul Reilly, Mark Kenneally and Gareth Coughlan - also gained selection, with Turnbull the sixth man.

The long-course team also follows the line of last month's championships, with Mathews joined by Seamus Power, Cathal and Fiachra Lombard, and Martin McCarthy. Mark Carroll, who was pre-selected, will return from the US to complete the team.