McKiernan demoralises field

Catherina McKiernan is headed for an early meeting with two of the athletes who threaten her prospects of a coveted win in the London Marathon in April - Scotland's Liz McColgan and Joyce Chepchumba of Kenya.

Shortly after she had stretched her sequence of wins to 11 by demoralising an international field at Dunleer, Co Louth, yesterday, McKiernan learned that McColgan and Chepchumba will join her on the starting line for a half marathon in Lisbon on March 15th.

This is regarded as the authentic test in establishing form for the London Marathon in which the Kenyan, against all the odds, delivered a stunning late run to catch McColgan in last year's race.

The pair were again expected to dominate this year's event until McKiernan announced her conversion to road running by winning the Berlin Marathon in handsome style in October.

Since then, she has proved invincible in both road and cross country competition and the point was illustrated with some style yesterday when she skimmed across the terrain to turn Ras na hEireann into something of a procession.

In winning by 46 seconds with a time of 20 minutes 27 seconds for the six kilometres course, McKiernan reduced her opposition to total anonymity. And yet, before the race, genuine cases could have been worked out for at least two of her rivals.

Lucia Subano of Kenya, fourth in the international race in Belfast the previous week, is currently in 13th place in the World rankings while Nora Rocha of Italy, another who could have exploited the Irish woman's lack of cross country competition this season, is just five places behind her.

In fact, neither ever counted as a potent threat in the race. With the confidence born of a long sequence of success, McKiernan raced into the lead from the start and before the first 1,000 metres had been covered, the rest of the field were already running for the minor placings.

It was a repeat of the strategy which unnerved her rivals at Durham and now, the effects were just as decisive. Subano, who had hung on so abrasively in the Belfast race, was struggling long before half way here, and behind her, Rocha and the Italian, Sabrina Varrone were equally uncomfortable.

By any standards, it was another exceptional run by McKiernan, good enough to suggest that if she changed tack and decided to double the World Cross Country championship with the London Marathon, she could win both. To do so, however, she would have to forego the chance of running in the Lisbon half marathon and according to Joe Doonan, her coach, there will be no deviation from the schedule mapped out for her.

Yet, Doonan was quick to acknowledge the merit of this success. "It wasn't a case of putting on a show for the crowd - the extent of her winning margin was down to the way she is running just now," he said. "She went out to take control of the race at an early stage and in that, the strategy was perfect.

Overall, it was a rewarding day for a big crowd who witnessed another impressive Irish performance in the men's race, won with some authority by Seamus Power from the Mexican, Pablo Onmedo. If Power, in common with every other athlete, in the country, has found himself overshadowed by McKiernan this season, his form has been impressively consistent.