ATHLETICS NEWS:ALISTAIR CRAGG put the disappointment of the Beijing Olympics further behind him by running one of the best 5,000 metres of his career at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson City, Los Angeles, on Saturday, writes Ian O'Riordan.

Cragg was involved in a late duel with Dajen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia, and while he lost out in the end, he showed a competitive side to his running which is encouraging ahead of the World Championships in August.

Gebremeskel got the better of Cragg in the final 50 metres, winning by a mere 31-hundredths-of-a-second in 13 minutes 16.52 seconds, the second fastest time in the world this year. Cragg knocked six seconds off his previous best time this year when finishing second in 13:16.83, now ranked the third fastest in the world for 2009. The third place finisher was Scott Baughs of the US in 13:38.95.

Cragg’s run was one of a number of good performances by the Irish in the US at the weekend, with 23-year-old Andrew Ledwith improving his 10,000 metres best from 28:57.18 to 28:45.77 when winning the IC4A title at the Princeton University track.

Martin Fagan, who also had a bad experience at the Beijing Olympics, continued to show that he is among the best distance runners in the world when he finished eighth in the big 10km road race at Central Park, New York. Fagan finished in 28:45.01 in the field of 7,500 runners in the Healthy Kidney Foundation race. Victory went to Tadese Tola of Ethiopia, who broke the course record with 27:48.

The AAI Games took place at the Athlone Institute of Technology yesterday, with Claire Begin of DSD winning a 100-400 double, clocking 11.90 and 54.59. Two former Olympians, Adrian O’Dwyer (KCH) and Martina McCarthy (Athenry) continued on the comeback trail, with O’Dwyer winning the high jump with a comfortable 2.00m clearance and McCarthy finishing second in the 200 metres and fourth in the 400 metres in 56.77.