Cragg second in US road race

ATHLETICS / News: Alistair Cragg yesterday continued his steady comeback from injury with a second place finish in the famed Thanksgiving Day Road Race in Manchester, Connecticut.

Snow and freezing conditions didn't make for fast running, but Cragg still clocked a respectable 21 minutes, 56 seconds for the 4.8-mile race.

He was beaten to the line by New Zealand 1,500-metre specialist Nick Willis, who posted 21:50. Cragg sat back in the early stages before breaking away with Willis shortly after the third mile, but seemed to lack a little sharpness when it came to the final sprint. The Russian athlete Valerie Shabruin was third in 22.07.

It was only Cragg's second race since sitting out the entire summer with a back injury, and follows his victory in a low-key 10km road race in Arkansas earlier this month.

Cragg will next turn his attention to next month's European Cross Country in Tilburg, the Netherlands, for which he's already pre-selected along with fellow US-based athletes Martin Fagan and Mary Cullen.

Cullen also finished second in the women's race in Manchester yesterday, clocking 25:01 behind another New Zealand winner, Kim Smith. Fagan is still recovering from his 16th-place finish in the American Collegiate cross country last Monday, and all three will therefore bypass Sunday's National Intercounties championships at Sligo racecourse, which also act as the trials for the Europeans.

The first three home in each of Sunday's four races in Sligo (men's and women's senior and junior) will join them in Tilburg. Club champion Jolene Byrne and defending Intercounties champion Maria McCambridge are confirmed starters in the senior women's race, and will almost certainly lead the Irish team.

The senior men's title looks set to be decided between Donegal's Gary Murray, Dublin's Rob Connolly and defending champion Vinny Mulvey, also of Dublin. Gareth Turnbull is returning from the US also eyeing a place on the Irish team.

The junior men's race also promises another battle between Danny Darcy and Colin Costello, with the latter returning from his college scholarship at Arkansas.

Sunday's timetable is: 1.15pm, senior women; 1.45pm, junior women; 2.10pm, junior men; 2.40pm, senior men.

London should take heed of the mistakes made by previous host cities and press ahead with preparations for the 2012 Olympics, Denis Oswald of the IOC said yesterday. "London does have a number of existing facilities but many have to be built. There is a clear lesson that not a single day should be lost because seven years is not too long."