O'Sullivan cruises in despite intentions

ATHLETICS/Women's Mini Marathon: There's very little left now that Sonia O'Sullivan hasn't either done or tried to do in her enduring career and yet yesterday's Women's MiniMarathon marked a whole new adventure.

She agreed to run a couple of weeks ago, but not to race. Instead, her plan was to help pace 10 athletes who'd won a competition organised by one of her sponsors.

So she did her main training run yesterday morning, did her usual session in the gym, and then went for a casual lunch. After warming up with her pace group she went to the starting line, not bothering to change into her racing flats.

She had a quick glance around and suddenly realised she couldn't help acting on impulse - and rather than run the thing she raced it.

Pauline Curley was her main challenger over the 10-kilometre race, but O'Sullivan eased into the lead shortly after the halfway mark and, in the one testing hill up Nutley Lane, pulled well clear.

She reached the finish line at the National Concert Hall in 33 minutes, six seconds - with Curley a deserving runner-up in a personal best time of 33:22.

O'Sullivan's adventure didn't end there. She briefly poised for a few photographs, then dashed under the finishing banner and ran about a mile back out into the course to meet some of the athletes in her pacing group. And, as originally planned, she helped pull them over the finish-line.

"When I got to the start line I just thought the field looked manageable," explained O'Sullivan. "So I just thought I'd start off and see how I'd go. Pauline just said she'd try to keep up with me as long as she could, and I thought I could help her along a bit too. I wasn't trying to run fast, but I felt quite good once I got going.

"But yeah, I did all the things I wouldn't normally do before a race. I didn't rest up at all for it either, and just really enjoyed it."

Curley admitted that once she saw O'Sullivan on the start line she knew she had a race on her hands.

"I was never going to be led to believe that Sonia O'Sullivan was going to jog this race," said the Tullamore athlete, and winner of the event three years ago. "But I'm delighted with my time of 33:21 because I'd never broken 34 minutes before.

"And Sonia definitely helped me on. I wasn't looking at the watch, but even when the gap opened I figured I'd keep going hard for the time."

Annette Kealy of Raheny also produced a rewarding time of 34:51 to take third place, with Kerry's Niamh O'Sullivan a close fourth in 34:54. Patrice Dockery defended her wheelchair race title in 27:33.

For O'Sullivan, who won the event twice before, including her course record run of 31:28 back in 2000, the attention now switches to the track, and the possible target of the World Championships in Helsinki next August.

"I've had a couple of good track sessions already," she explained. "The 3,000 metres Cork City Sports on July 2nd is the only definite one, but I'll probably have to do something in London before that.

"The World Championships are definitely still an option at the moment and after Cork I'll get ready for the national 5,000 metres and make a decision on Helsinki some time around then."

Her London marathon experience, where she finished eighth in 2:29.01, has clearly rejuvenated her desire to keep on going for at least another year.

The 35-year-old is particularly determined to give the marathon another good crack, especially Catherina McKiernan's Irish record of 2:22.23.

"Running wise, it was quite easy to get back into it after London. But I'll definitely go back to the marathon. I think the problems I had with blisters probably cost me about two minutes, so I feel I can get down around two hours 25 minutes. And that's getting closer to the Irish record. And that's the ultimate goal."

Results

1 - S O'Sullivan (Ballymore-Cobh) 33 mins 6 secs, 2 - P Curley (Tullamore) 33:22, 3 - A Kealy (Raheny) 34:51, 4 - N O'Sullivan (An Riocht) 34.54, 5 - E Martin (Sportsworld) 35:40, 6 - V Colleran (Ennis) 36:41, 7 - F Keane (Loughrea) 37:36, 8 - A Curley (Donore) 37:49, 9 - B McHale (Mayo) 37:57, 10 - D Ryan (Dublin) 38:04. Wheelchair: 1 - Patrice Dockery 27:33.