O'Sullivan's sparkle still there but podium beyond her just yet

The expectations surrounding Sonia O'Sullivan's return to competitive running were fulfilled when she finished an impressive and assuring fourth place at the Great North Run in Newcastle yesterday.

Impressive for both her time of 70 minutes and five seconds and the comfort in which she completed the half-marathon course of 13.1 miles, it was assuring also for the extent to which she's recovered her racing fitness after giving birth to daughter Ciara just 13 weeks ago.

The prospect of O'Sullivan defending the title so convincingly won on her debut over the distance last year was always going to be that bit beyond her, especially with the quality of competition in the starting line-up. Yet there was further bonus in that her finishing time ended up one minute and 45 seconds faster than a year ago, leaving little doubt about her pending return to the top of world athletics.

There was something of a surprise when victory went to Joyce Chepchumba of Kenya in 69:07 over her favoured compatriot and world marathon record holder Tegla Loroupe, a tired runner-up some 25 seconds back. Paula Radcliffe concluded her rewarding season by taking third in 69:37 seconds but O'Sullivan had reduced the gap on the British runner to 28 seconds after it had grown at one stage to over a minute.

"The most important thing is that I felt strong all the way and was able to make it a good hard run," said O'Sullivan. "I just wasn't ready to race more than 10km at the moment. I was comfortable enough to keep up for half the race, but I don't really have the speed to be up there with these girls yet. It was strange as well in that I found myself being a lot more nervous than I thought at the start, and even began wondering to myself what I was doing here."

O'Sullivan, however, quickly looked every bit the athlete of the past once the race started. Assisted by ideal conditions, the elite women were soon reduced to six by the four mile point, reached in 21 minutes 41 seconds with O'Sullivan looking extremely comfortable in the middle of the group.

It was approaching the half-way point that O'Sullivan started to give way to the pressing pace of Radcliffe and Loroupe, as the time between mile six and seven dropped significantly to 4:57. "It was somewhat difficult at first to accept that they were running away from me," she said. "But you can't just fall apart and stop after that so I just wanted to make it a worth while run. Still, I was never really racing, just running consistently the whole way.

"I started thinking what I'd do after getting more detached because I didn't really know what pace I was running. At 10 miles I just started my watch to keep track of the mile splits from there and give me something to concentrate on. I ran a 5:15 mile and then all of a sudden I was nearly back with them again. I was thinking as well about the fast five miles I did in training last week and that helped me concentrate on getting to the finish."

O'Sullivan still left some quality distance runners behind her, including European marathon champion Manuela Machado of Portugal and former runner-up Etser Kiplagat of Kenya. "It certainly wasn't any worse than last year in that I ran faster and beat some of the same people. They just imported a few sharper runners this year and if anybody was to predict what would happen then they would probably place the people in that order." There was similar satisfaction expressed at the finish line in South Shields by her coach Alan Storey. "I think we have to be relieved in many ways," he said, "in that we didn't really know what to expect. There was a limit on her much training she could for this because when you come back from pregnancy you have to be so careful.

What she didn't want to do was go with the pace and then fall off the back big time later in the race. She's more or less as fit as she was last year, although she's still a few pounds over her ideal racing weight. This event is still a bit of fun for her anyway."

Chepchumba had forced Loroupe into the runner-up spot with a decisive move after the eight mile mark, giving her a winning send-off to the Chicago marathon in a fortnight's time where she is set to throw down the main challenge to Catherina McKiernan. It was the first defeat for Loroupe on the roads this autumn, underlining the quality of the test which O'Sullivan had chosen to make her return. "Alan had been trying to tell me all week that I was going to find it hard to compete with the best here. I know I'm lacking in speed but I've got a year to work on that so I should be all right."

O'Sullivan highlights the reference of the long road to the Sydney Olympics. "That's what everybody is looking towards but there is a long time between now and then so I'll be taking it gradually and one step at a time. I know now I'm back to my best training but I wouldn't even think that I'm back to best racing yet, and I don't need to be.

"I know now that I've done everything right in gradually getting back into training and this is the first benchmark to see how fit I am. I know as well that I can probably run a good race in the next few weeks as long as it's shorter than a half-marathon," she said.

The top placing in the men's race also went to Kenya where John Mutai cruised to solo victory in 60:52 and he will now return to the Dublin Marathon later this month hoping to improve on the third placing of last year. The only question then is left for O'Sullivan's opposition down the road. If and when she is back to her full race sharpness, what is she going to be capable of then?

Women: 1 J Chepchumba (Kenya) 1:09.07, 2 T Loroupe (Kenya) 1:09.35, 3 P Radcliffe (Brit) 1:09.37, 4 S O'Sullivan (Ireland) 1:10.05, 5 E Kiplagat (Kenya) 1:12.12, 6 M Machado (Por) 1:12.53, 7 T Thompson (Brit) 1:15.14, 8 A Wyeth (Brit) 1:16.18, 9 J Thompson (Brit) 1:16.25, 10 L Belavina (Russia) 1:17.34.

Men: 1 J Mutai (Kenya) 1:00.52, 2 G Thys (South Africa) 1:01.21, 3 M Steinle (Brit) 1:02.23, 4 M O'Dowd (Brit) 1:02.38, 5 L Troop (Australia) 1:02.57, 6 M Fiz (Spain) 1:03.00, 7 J Morapedi (South Africa) 1:03.16, 8 R Denmark (Brit) 1:03.34, 9 A Bolkhovitin (Russia) 1:03.45, 10 S Green (Brit) 1:03.55.