Margaret Jennings says London Marathon winner Catherina McKiernan coaches people to run for longevity and health but only for short, invigorating bursts.

Success in distance running boils down to a relatively simple formula, but for the current crop of Irish athletes the conundrum has proved increasingly difficult to solve.

Ciara Mageean couldn’t hide her disappointment after a fifth place finish in the women’s 1500m in 4:12.46 on an exciting night of athletics at the Athlone International Grand Prix. Athletics

Ireland’s most promising distance runner Kevin Mulcaire has his eyes firmly set on defending his GloHealth All Ireland Schools senior boys’ 6,500m title in Sligo Racecourse today.

Sean Hehir and Pauline Curley stole the headlines winning the national titles at the SSE Airtricity Dublin marathon as Alemu Gemechu and Nataliya Lehonkova took overall glory ahead of a record entry of more than 15,000.

After nine months of preparation, Lizzie Lee shaved five minutes from her marathon personal best in Berlin on Sunday, putting her in pole position for a place at the Rio Olympics...

Thomas Barr is European athlete of the month for April, rewarded for his European-leading 400m hurdles time of 49.08 to win at the Tom Jones Classic in Gainesville, USA, on April 24.

Gemma Steel denied Fionnuala Britton a maiden victory in a fascinating duel in blustery conditions in the Phoenix Park at the SPAR Great Ireland Run 10km on Saturday.

Fionnuala Britton will aim to make it third-time lucky at the SPAR Great Ireland Run 10km in Dublin’s Phoenix Park tomorrow as she continues her transition to road running.

Running makes me feel good. It makes me a nicer person.

Athletics: Athletics

Cold and muddy conditions will greet the Irish athletes when they arrive to the Bulgarian mountain resort of Borovets this evening for the 21st European Cross-Country Championships.

Fionnuala Britton had that familiar fourth feeling akin to the European cross country championships at a windswept Phoenix Park yesterday where Poland’s Iwona Lewandowska was a surprise winner at the Spar Great Ireland Run 10k in 33:39.

Mary Cullen stormed to a course record of 25 minutes and 37 seconds in windy conditions at the Axa Raheny five-mile race yesterday while there was also plenty of action in the Woodie’s DIY National Junior and U23 Championships in Athlone.

While Fionnuala Britton heads to tomorrow’s 20th European-Cross Country Championships in Belgrade in search of a hat-trick of titles with customary quiet steely resolve, her bigger ambition is to ultimately join the likes of Sonia O’Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan as Ireland’s greatest distance runners.

Fionnuala Britton’s decision to abandon the track this summer will not hinder her bid for a third consecutive European cross-country gold, believes Catherina McKiernan.

“I couldn’t leave that one go,” admitted senior boy’s winner Sean Tobin of his last chance at glory in Saturday’s Aviva All-Ireland Schools’ and Universities’ Cross Country Championships at University of Ulster, Jordanstown.

Four-time world cross country silver medallist Catherina McKiernan has urged the future distance running stars “to enjoy” the Aviva Irish Schools’ Cross Country Championships that take place tomorrow in the University of Ulster, Jordanstown if they are to succeed.

Hosting a farming series may not seem the obvious job for a Dub from suburbia.

NEWLY crowned European Cross Country champion Fionnuala Britton arrived in Dublin Airport yesterday evening to a rapturous reception.

IRELAND has a rich tradition in cross-country running stretching back to the 1930s and Tim Smyth’s world dominance, through John Treacy’s back-to-back world titles in 1978 an 1979, Catherina McKiernan’s European title in 1994 and then Sonia O’Sullivan’s two world titles on successive days in Marrakech in 1998.

FIONNUALA BRITTON put the golden seal of approval on a tremendous year for Irish athletics when she claimed the senior women’s title at the 18th SPAR European Cross-Country championships in Slovenia yesterday.

SATURDAY

Father Paul O’Boyle takes an extremely active role in his parish, but this does not mean that he shirks from his religious duties. With concerts, lotteries, visits, baptisms, weddings and funerals, fitting it all in is a full-time job, writes Caroline O’Doherty

BACK when I was young and it was sunny all summer long, I got a job in a garden centre.

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

WHEN the President of Athletics Ireland, Liam Hennessy, launched the bid to bring the SPAR European cross-country championships to Dublin in Italy in 2006, Mo Farah was a surprise winner of the senior men’s title.

Martin Fagan faces a huge task in beating Paul Tergat as he bids to become the first home winner of the men’s title at the Great Ireland Run on April 5.

The inaugural National Athletics Awards 2007 were launched today by Athletics Ireland.

IRELAND will host the 2009 European cross-country championships.

CATHERINA McKIERNAN is Ireland’s fastest marathon runner and has won four silver medals in the world cross-country championships, but since retiring from competitive running she is imparting her vast knowledge to those who run competitively or just for fun.

Up to 40,000 women will join forces on the streets of Dublin today to raise millions of euro for charity.

SERGIY LEBID stole the show with a devastating last lap surge to claim his fifth successive title - and his sixth in all - at the SPAR European cross-country championships in Tilburg, overcoming the challenge of Spain’s Alberto Garcia, the European 5,000m champion who only returned from a two-year ban for a positive drugs test last March.

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.

PAULINE CURLEY has dominated road racing in Leinster all summer and on Sunday she will take her talents to Munster when she lines up for the Irish Examiner Limerick Women’s Mini Marathon.

CIARAN MCDONAGH justified coach Paul Doyle’s confidence when breaking his own national long jump record with a leap of 8.07m at the Resisprint International in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, on Sunday.

Keith Kelly and Pauline Kerley took top placings today in the annual adidas Irish Runner Challenge five mile race at the Phoenix Park.

Irish cross-country champion Jolene Byrne has made a late decision to compete in Saturday’s Great BUPA Ireland Run in Dublin.

Sonia O’Sullivan today confirmed she will look to regain her title in April’s Great BUPA Ireland Run.

AS the inter-county GAA season emerges from winter hibernation, Brendan Larkin and Therese O’Callaghan canvassed football and hurling managers on their close season training regime.