O'Sullivan set to hit the road

Sonia O'sullivan will waste no time in her efforts to put the last desolate fortnight behind her, when she runs in the five-mile Balmoral road race in Scotland two weeks from Saturday.

At Balmoral, she will be part of a field that already includes Britain's Paula Radcliffe and Olympic 10,000 metres champion Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia. There are at least a few consolations she could take from last weekend's trip to Ostend for the World Cross Country championships. It wasn't as bad as the World Indoor championships in Lisbon two weeks previously, in that the head cold that caused her to drop out after just three minutes of running was outside her control.

That should be easier to get over than the ambitious but ultimately foolhardy idea of running two World Indoor races within 90 minutes, which she admitted afterwards was "a quick decision and the wrong one". Ultimately, O'Sullivan is still in the condition to restore her best form without pause.

Just three weeks ago, she came over from Australia with some of the best winter training of her career behind her. Before departing, for instance, she won a 3,000 metres in Melbourne and Benita Willis of Australia was 10 seconds behind her. On Sunday, Willis finished sixth in the short course race, giving some suggestion as to how O'Sullivan would have fared had she avoided the head cold.

Her first race in Lisbon went to plan, and O'Sullivan looked hugely impressive before the four championship races in a little over two days took their toll. Indoor running is also notorious for producing head colds and minor illnesses in athletes, not least because of the recycled air and artificial heat.

When the head cold first appeared last Monday week, O'Sullivan, starting a five-day course of antibiotics, chose to wait until Sunday before deciding whether to compete in Ostend. She warmed up and felt fine. But when the actual race began, she found she had nothing in the legs.

Neither of those experiences have caused her to change her plans for the outdoor track season. "I have had a rest all this week," she said, "I definitely don't need a break right now."

At 31, O'Sullivan is set to stay with the 5,000 metres for another season at least. Edmonton in August is the main target further down the road, where she will compete in her first outdoor World Championships since 1997. There's no reason to suggest there won't be at least three more years of competitive running in O'Sullivan after that.

Meanwhile, she was back in Dublin last night at a gathering of alumni from Villanova, her alma mater in the US and where she first showed her ability to compete on the world stage. It was a fitting way for her to begin the short road back to form.