Catherina McKiernan will be among the more interested observers of the annual cross-country international races at Mallusk today. McKiernan, who won the women's race in 1992 and '93 and was only just deprived of a hattrick of successes by Paula Radcliffe, has opted out of this year's event because it doesn't fit into her training schedule for the London Marathon.

Joyce Chepchumba of Kenya, whose duels with Liz McColgan have enriched the London race in recent years, is listed among the starters at Mallusk and to that extent, the race can prove highly informative for the Irish woman. Chepchumba, like McKiernan, has decided to miss out on the world championship because she feels it would interfere with her preparations for London.

Nobody has a better record in this event than Radcliffe who apart from her success over McKiernan, won the race in 1996 and finished third last year behind Elena Fidatov of Romania and the Ethiopian, Gete Wami.

A heavy cold effectively jettisoned her hopes of beating McKiernan at Durham earlier in the month but now, suitably refreshed by a short break, she hopes to illustrate her prospects of winning the world championship, with a big performance here.

Given that several members of the squad which finished third in the world championship at Turin last March, are unavailable for today's race, the Irish challenge will be relatively subdued.

Yet, there will a special interest in Teresa Duffy's performance after a relatively low-key run in Durham. That was untypical of the woman who finished second in the Margate international in November and who can profit today from knowing this terrain better than most.

Seamus Power, who ran so well to finish fifth at Durham, leads the Irish men's team in a race which offers the prospect of some sharp competition between Yann Millon of France, Kenya's James Kariuki and the South African, Hendrik Kamaala (second in the world rankings).

Power, building towards another big challenge for the national championship at the end of next month, should again run well but in some respects, the bigger interest on this occasion will focus on how Peter Matthews performs.

After a long struggle to rediscover the form which brought him a national championship some years ago, Matthews was vindicated to a large extent when he led the Irish finishers in 16th place in the European championship in Portugal last month. Subsequently, he withdrew from the Durham race but providing he has recovered fully from a minor fitness problem, he should run well in this type of company.

Elsewhere, a number of Irish athletes with designs on winning places in the team to compete in the European indoor championships at Valencia next month, will be in action in the Scottish championships at Glasgow today.

They include Gary Ryan, who has already broken the national 60 metres record on three occasions this season, Tom Comyns, Mark Mandy and Lena Barry (who will be in search of a double in the women's 60 and 200 metres).