McKiernan in rare road loss

Catherina McKiernan's year-long string of victories ended in Portugal yesterday in an 11km road race in the northern town of Porto. McKiernan finished third behind Tegla Laroupe of Kenya and old rival Julia Vaquero of Spain but the performance was far from a disappointment for the Cavan woman.

"I'm happy enough with the way the race went," said McKiernan. "I'm not too bothered with the result considering I've only been back to serious training for a few weeks."

Laroupe finished in 36 minutes 42 seconds to repeat her victory of last year, with Vaquero 10 seconds back. McKiernan was another 30 seconds behind Vaquero but well clear of Olympic marathon champion, Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia, who finished fourth.

Yesterday's distance of just over six miles was far from McKiernan's optimum distance - she's more used to running 26 miles these days - and considering it's less than two months since her victory in the London Marathon, the third place brings no sense of failure.

"I felt strong for most of the race but the leg speed isn't there at the moment," McKiernan said. "I'm only starting a new strength programme now and was not going to be sharp for a race like this. I can go back knowing what work needs to be done and I'm looking forward to it.

"I could have stayed at home but there's no doubt I'm glad I came," she added. "I took a long break after London and it's been a while since I've done that kind of fast running.

"It was a good workout in hot conditions and it was also nice to finish ahead of Roba."

It was in this race a year ago that McKiernan was last beaten - she finished fourth. Since then, she has clocked up 14 consecutive wins, including the Berlin and London marathons, before yesterday's race.

Even with her lack of sharpness, McKiernan made a strike for the lead after running with Laroupe and Vaquero in the early stages. On the second of the two-lap race around the tight city streets, Laroupe, the women's world marathon record-holder, pulled clear.

Vaquero will be remembered for her battle with McKiernan at the European cross country back in 1994, when she lost out to McKiernan. Since then she has been a track specialist.

In fifth place yesterday was Daria Nauer of Switzerland, a medallist over 10,000 metres at the 1994 European Championships.

McKiernan will now concentrate on the build-up to her next marathon, which she will contest in the autumn.

She will pass on the European Championships in August. In fact, the only championship plans that McKiernan has are for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.