O'Sullivan not to run in Portugal

Sonia O'Sullivan said yesterday that she will not be a contender for the European Cross Country Championship in Portugal on December 13th.

Instead, she plans to duplicate her programme of recent years and go to Australia early next month to commence preparations for her 1999 schedule.

In spurning the opportunity to add the European title to the world cross country titles she won in Morocco in March, she has effectively dismissed speculation of an early meeting with Catherina McKiernan.

Although McKiernan's current commitments extend only as far the Rotterdam marathon on November 1st, she is planning her winter programme on the basis that she will run in Portugal.

The effect of O'Sullivan's decision to bypass the race, will be to heighten the build up to a confrontation of high noon proportions, possibly in the World Cross Country Championship in Belfast next March but, more likely to be deferred until later in the year.

"The plan of going to Australia for warm weather training in the winter, has worked for me in the past and I see no reason why I should abandon it now," said O'Sullivan.

"I hope to go there, either at the end of October or the first week in November and stay until shortly before the world cross country race in Belfast. At the moment, I'm looking at a programme of three or four track races, including one in the Grand Prix meeting in Melbourne, in addition to running in the Australian cross country trial."

With the European Cross Country Championship now ruled out, Sunday's Great North Run, over the half marathon distance at Gateshead, will be her last race of the year in Europe.

In her first ever half marathon in the corresponding event last year, O'Sullivan started with the men and finished some way off the winner of the women's race, Lucia Sebana of Kenya in a time of 75 minutes.

Now with that experience to guide her, she's planning to take at least five minutes off her 1997 figures. "I've trained hard for the last two weeks and if I can manage a time in and around 70 minutes, I should be there or thereabouts at the finish.