O'Sullivan can't catch Johnson

ATHLETICS/Great North Run: It wasn't quite the Olympic consolation she'd searched for but Sonia O'Sullivan's sixth-place finish in yesterday's Great North Run half-marathon was satisfying nonetheless. And at least this time she finished with a smile.

O'Sullivan's time of 68 minutes 53 seconds was less than a minute behind race winner Benita Johnson of Australia, the frequent training partner of the Irish athlete who is now clearly back to her best after a summer marred by injury. The world cross-country champion clocked 67:55 after breaking away from the elite group over the closing two miles, winning in the end by an impressive 32 seconds.

African runners filled the next four places, led by the Kenyans Edith Masai (68:27) and Susan Chepkemi (68:32) and then the Ethiopian duo of Derartu Tulu and Berhane Adere.

With Newcastle's cool, dry conditions ideal for distance running, it was O'Sullivan who did much of the running over the opening miles, sharing the pacemaking with the Australian. At the 10-mile mark, however, she suddenly hit a patch and dropped some 15 metres off the leading quintet. She did hold her form until the finish but never looked like recovering enough to challenge the leaders.

Johnson's victory was ultimately secured when running 4:58 for the 12th mile: "I really enjoyed the race," she said, "and it's great to come back so strong after a disappointing Olympics."

The men's race was won even more impressively by Dejene Berhanu, the 23-year-old Ethiopian who ran the fastest half-marathon ever on British soil to win in 59:37. Last year's champion Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa won a sprint finish to claim the runners-up spot (61:38) ahead of Smail Sghir of France.

There was a class Irish run though, on Saturday when the fast-emerging distance star Colin Costello sprinted to an impressive victory in the Great North Junior Mile. The 18-year-old kicked right away from Britain's best young runners in the closing stages to win by more some 10 metres in 4:18.7. England's Gary Davenport (4:19.6) closed fastest of the chasers to edge out Ross Toole from Scotland for third place (4:20.0).

Ireland's Azmera Gebrezgi made a real go at winning the women's under-20 race, breaking away with Morag Maclarty of Scotland after the 600-metre mark. The Scot sat on her shoulder until the finishing straight and produced a perfectly-timed sprint finish to win comfortably in 5:00.6, with Gebrezgi second in 5:05.2 and Danielle Christmas, of England, third in 5:11.2.