O'Sullivan's choice awaited keenly

With over $500,000in prizemoney, 1,000 athletes and 200 media personnel, Leopardstown's reputation for thoroughbreds should easily survive when the 29th IAAF World Cross Country Championships take place on March 25th-26th.

Ireland coach Jerry Kiernan, though, will probably have to wait until two weeks before the event, when the World Indoor Championships in Lisbon from March 9th-11th finish, before he knows whether Mark Carroll will be one of the key figures in his team.

Similarly, Kiernan is anxious that Sonia O'Sullivan will not leave it to the last moment to decide on whether she intends to focus on the longer 7,870 metre women's race or the shorter 4,270 metre event or both.

Kiernan, who attended yesterday's publicity launch at Leopardstown with Irish team contenders Peter Matthews and Seamus Power, appeared philosophical on both issues.

"At the moment Mark is positive about the World Indoor Championships which are two weeks before the cross country. I would be hopeful he'll run in such a way that he shows form and will then be available for us. He'd greatly embellish the team but we've no choice but to wait until the World Indoors are over," said Kiernan.

"Talking to him last weekend in Dunleer, if it works out well he will run. Three kilometres indoor, four kilometres outdoor, heck what's the difference? Mark, as a kid, was a cross-country runner and the course will be good."

O'Sullivan, the 1998 winner of both the long and short-course events, is yet to decide how she will approach the weekend of March 25th-26th.

"What I wouldn't like to happen is what happened last year when the girls didn't know what they were going in until the last moment," said Kiernan.

"It would be nice to know from Sonia whether she is going for one or the other or both in advance of the event so we can work it out with the team."

A festive mood prevailed at the racecourse where the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation Jim McDaid repeated his ambition to "exploit strategic integration of sport and tourism." With Bord Failte in as the major sponsor, they too should be encouraged that the championships will be broadcast around Europe by RTE, BBC and Eurosport and will be picked up by other networks for an estimated audience of 80 million people in 150 territories.

"The field will be littered with Olympic, World and European champions all racing for their national teams and for what are the most coveted titles in distance running," said Nick Davis, president of the Athletic Association of Ireland.

The event has been staged 11 times on Irish soil but the last time it was held in the Republic of Ireland John Treacy won in a quagmire in Greenpark, Limerick, in 1979. O'Sullivan won both races in Morocco two years ago while Catherina McKiernan, currently struggling with injury and an unlikely runner in the event, has been a silver medallist four times in succession.

Around 25,000 turned out to watch Treacy earn what was his second gold, having won the event in Glasgow the previous year and organisers are hoping that similar numbers will attend again.

Irish Sports Council chief executive Treacy was not at the launch due to the sudden death of his mother.

The cost of hosting the two-day event has been put at around £1 million. It will be run over the same weekend as Ireland face England in rugby in the Six Nations Championship at Lansdowne Road.

The rugby begins at 3 p.m.. Given the starting times of Saturday's racing, it will be possible for those interested in watching both events, to do so. The senior women's long-course race, the last of the day, begins at 1.15 p.m. with the medal ceremony scheduled for 1.55 p.m.. Saturday's opening race is the women's junior event at 12.05 p.m., with the senior men's short-course race starting at 12.45 p.m..

Sunday's schedule has a later start, with the first race of the day, the junior men's event, beginning at 2.05 p.m.. The senior shortcourse event for women takes place at 2.20 p.m. with the men's long-course event rounding off the weekend at 3.0 p.m.. The finish point for all races is opposite the main grandstand on the course.

Prize money is divided into team and individual awards. The first six athletes in the senior event will earn $30,000 for a win down to $3,000 for sixth place. The first team prize is $20,000 down to $4,000 for sixth.

"That's what make this race so special," said Davis. "Everyone is racing for team points which makes those runners way down the field just as important as the athlete who might win the race."