LINDA BYRNE (Dundrum/South Dublin) claimed her place at next year’s Olympic Games in London when she finished sixth in yesterday’s National Lottery Dublin Marathon in 2:36:21 which was just inside the “A” standard set by Athletics Ireland at 2:37.

MARTIN FAGAN is hoping a big performance in today’s Manchester Road Race in Connecticut will impress the Irish selectors ahead of next month’s European cross-country championships in Albufeira.

ALISTAIR CRAGG is selected to run for Ireland in the SPAR European cross-country championships in Santry on December 13.

THE Irish teams for the European cross-country championships in Brussels will be finalised tonight following the NCAA championships in Indiana where a number of Irish athletes will be in action.

MARTIN FAGAN can’t wait to line up for Ireland at the European cross-country championships in Toro, Spain, on Sunday.

REIGNING European indoor 400m champion, David Gillick, will fly out to Lanzarote today for some warm weather training with his new coach, Nick Dakin.

TWO-TIME Irish Olympian Sinead Delahunty-Evans will attempt to relive past glories when she goes to the line in the renewed Fifth Avenue Mile in New York tomorrow.

FIACHRA LOMBARD will not just be bidding for a berth on the Irish team for next month’s European cross-country championships when he competes in Sunday’s national inter-counties championships at St. Augustine’s College, Dungarvan.

CATHAL LOMBARD’S build-up to the Athens Olympics starts in earnest tomorrow when he leaves for altitude training in Albuquerque.

AFTER years of hard grafting Cork’s Cathal Lombard has become an overnight success.

ATHLETICS Ireland moved a step closer to lodging a bid for the European cross-country championships when a three-man delegation met with representatives of the EAA in Germany last week.

ALASTAIR CRAGG, who has recently declared for Ireland and made himself available for selection for next month's European cross-country championships, finished second in yesterday's American national collegiate cross-country championships at Indiana State University.