JOE SWEENEY may have other things on his mind but his coach, Jerry Kiernan, won’t be surprised if he adds his name to the list of qualifiers for next year’s Olympics.

JOE SWEENEY goes into tomorrow’s Woodies DIY national inter-county cross-country championships overwhelming favourite to retain the title he won in Derry last year.

WORLD youth racewalking champion Kate Veale (West Waterford), finished third in the junior women’s race at the prestigious McCain UK Cross Challenge in Bristol over the weekend.

KATE VEALE (West Waterford) won bronze in the junior 10k at theEuropean Racewalking Cup in Olhao, Portugal, on Saturday.

FIONNUALA BRITTON will win the European cross-country championships this year and, if not, she will certainly win them next year, according to her new coach, Chris Jones.

THE winners of the senior men’s and senior women’s titles at Saturday’s Woodies DIY national inter-clubs cross-country championships at Santry Demesne are not interested in going to the world cross-country championships in Punta Unbria, Spain, on March 20.

SHANE QUINN (De La Salle, Waterford) was an impressive winner of the senior boys’ title at the AVIVA Munster Schools cross-country championships at the CIT Campus, Bishopstown, yesterday.

DERVAL O’ROURKE moved a step closer to her target — the European championships in Paris in a month’s time — when she finished third in the 60m hurdles in 8.03 secs at last night’s international indoor meeting in Lievin.

WHEN David McCarthy finished third in the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving Day, medal hopes for Ireland’s U23 men’s team at Sunday’s European cross-country championships in Albufeira shot through the roof.

WITH Ciarán Ó Lionáird committed to competing and David McCarthy set to return from Providence, the task of putting together a medal winning under-23 team for the European cross-country championships should be completed on Sunday at the Woodies DIY national inter-county cross-country championships at Gransha Park, Derry.

HIS sensational victory in last Saturday’s South Regional Cross-Country Championships in Hoover, Alabama will send Corkman Ciarán Ó Lionáird into Monday’s NCAAs among the medal favourites.

CIARÁN Ó LIONÁIRD (Leevale AC) finished a close-up fourth in the tough ACC Conference meet at Franklin Park, Boston, where less than four seconds separated the top four finishers.

UNTIL last weekend, Robert Heffernan held every race walking record up to 50k. But along came his old training partner, Jamie Costin, who smashed his 3,000m time before his home fans at Cork City Sports.

DERVAL O’ROURKE is out of next weekend’s World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar with a hamstring injury.

ALISTAIR CRAGG will get his place on the Irish senior men’s team for the SPAR European cross-country championships if he proves his fitness in tomorrow’s 5k road race in San Jose.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN, silver medallist at the 2000 Olympics, said yesterday it was time for all the sports bodies in Ireland to put their differences aside and get down to the business of planning for the 2012 London Games.

MARTIN FAGAN is set to become the first Irishman to win the Great Ireland Run while European indoor bronze medallist, Mary Cullen, is aiming to complete an Irish double by landing the women’s title.

THE expression on his face as he powered his way up the home straight said it all as Drogheda athlete, Keith Kelly, buried 10 years of frustration at Santry Park yesterday by claiming the National senior cross-country title for the first time at the age of 31.

MARK CARROLL, who held national records from 3,000m to 10,000m and represented Ireland on the track at every level up to and including two Olympic Games, will make a belated European cross-country championship debut in Brussels next month.

ANDREW LEDWITH turned in the finest performance of his career to date when he finished third in the NCAA championships at Indiana State University yesterday.

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.

ALAN McCORMACK gave another sensational performance in yesterday’s Woodies DIY national inter-counties cross-country championships at Tramore Racecourse when leading Dublin to the team honours.

HOLLY KNIGHT will be a new face on the Irish U23 women’s team for the European cross-country championships in Brussels on December 14.

A SMILING Roisin McGettigan last night compared the Beijing Olympic experience to her Community Games career after securing a place in tomorrow’s 3000 metre steeplechase final (2.30pm, Irish)

ALISTAIR CRAGG is favourite to win the Woodies DIY National Cross-Country Championships at his first attempt in Belfast this afternoon.

DERVAL O’ROURKE is back on track for the world indoor championships in Valencia after an injury lay-off.

JAMES NOLAN and Roisín McGettigan got their Olympic years off to flying starts at the weekend’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games with encouraging runs in their respective mile races.

MARTIN FAGAN’S participation in next month’s Houston Marathon will depend on the outcome of a meeting today with officials at the US embassy in Ballsbridge.

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

WORLD indoor 60m hurdles champion Derval O’Rourke will be among the stars present when her club Leevale AC celebrates its 40th anniversary on Sunday week.

IRISH collegiate athletes in the United States have some tough acts to follow as the latest round of conference indoor track championships get underway this weekend.

A SUSPECTED case of food poisoning cost Ireland dearly at the SPAR European cross-country championships at San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy, yesterday.

MARY CULLEN is ready to challenge for a medal in the senior women’s race at the SPAR European cross-country championships at San Giorgio su Legnana, near Milan, tomorrow but would be happy with a place in the top five or six.

MARK CHRISTIE is not among the medal favourites for the U23 men’s race at the SPAR European cross-country championships in San Giorgio su Legnano, but that won’t bother the 21 year-old Mullingar man on Sunday.

MARK CHRISTIE, winner of the national senior inter-counties title on Sunday in Dungarvan, has opted to compete in the Under-23 race at the European cross-country championships in Italy on Sunday week and Seamus Power, nine-time inter-counties champion, could be the man to replace him on the senior team.

MARTIN FAGAN defied unfavourable conditions to take fifth place at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Indiana.

MULLINGAR’S Martin Fagan will go to the line at today’s NCAA Cross Country Championships in Indiana buoyed by receiving a top award at the weekend.

RAY TREACY, Director of Track and Field at Providence College, was thrilled with the performance of protégé Mary Cullen at the European cross-country championships in Tilburg.

THE forced withdrawal of Alistair Cragg has been a huge blow to Ireland’s medal hopes at the European cross-country championships in Tilburg, but the men’s team, led by national champion Gary Murray, are ready to get on with the job they came here to do.

Alistair Cragg’s bid for a medal at next month's European Cross-Country Championships looks well on track after a strong finish in his first ever road race in Connecticut today.

MULLINGAR clubmates Martin Fagan and Mark Christie could be reunited on the Irish cross-country team for the first time since 2001 when the squad for next month’s SPAR European Cross-Country Championships in Tilburg is announced.

GERARD HARTMANN will anxiously watch tonight’s final of the women’s 10,000m at a Sports Bar in Limerick along with the double Olympic champion, Kelly Holmes.

MARK CARROLL will today be confirmed as an entrant in this year’s ING New York City Marathon on November 6.