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.

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.

BRIAN GREGAN (St Mark’s, Tallaght) added his name to Patsy McGonagle’s 4 x 400m relay squad when he smashed the record with a run of 47.49 seconds at the Leinster Schools championships at Morton Stadium.

THE final of the intermediate boys’ hurdles will provide the closest and possibly the most exciting finish of the day at the KitKat Munster Schools track and field championships at the UL track in Limerick tomorrow when Patrick Maher (Davis College, Mallow) and Edmund O’Halloran (St Francis College, Rochestown) renew rivalry.

THE African dominance of global running was reinforced to stranglehold proportions at the world cross-country championships in Edinburgh yesterday where Ethiopians raced to all four individual gold medals and were deprived of gold in just two of the team races by their Kenyan neighbours who won both the senior and junior men’s contests.

The Irish team are in a positive mood despite two withdrawals ahead of this weekend's World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh.

CRAIG Murphy (Douglas Community School) ended two years of frustration when winning the senior boys’ title at the KitKat Irish Schools Cross-Country Championships at Dartfield Equestrian Centre, Loughrea on Saturday.

NIALL TUOHY (Yeats College, Waterford) has withdrawn from Saturday’s KitKat Irish Schools cross-country championship at the Dartfield Equestrian Centre in Loughrea.

ANDREW LEDWITH (Fr. Murphy’s) has been named on the Irish senior men’s team for the world cross-country championships at the end of the month in what could prove a very wise decision by the selectors.

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

NIALL TUOHY (Yeats College, Waterford) proved that December’s inter-county championship junior win wasn’t a flash in the pan when he outsprinted Craig Murphy (Douglas Community School) in a dramatic finish to the senior boy’s race at the KitKat Munster Schools Cross-Country Championships at Tramore Racecourse yesterday.

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

LAST year’s winner Craig Murphy did not compete but Douglas CS kept the senior boys’ individual title thanks to an impressive performance from Richard Quirke at the South Munster Schools cross-country championships hosted by Midleton CBS yesterday.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN will be looking for the performance of a lifetime when he faces double European champion, Francisco Fernandez, in the 5,000m walk at the Irish Indoor Championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast tomorrow, with Gillian O’Sullivan also looking for something special.

DAVID McCARTHY (St Augustine’s) romped away with the senior boys’ title at the KitKat Munster Schools cross-country championships in Dungarvan on Saturday.

CRAIG MURPHY might have followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, legendary Kerry All-Ireland football star Jas Murphy, were it not for the fact that one day he went for a training run with a group of athletes from Douglas Community School.

STEPHEN SCULLION (Wellington College) and Sarah Treacy (King’s Hospital), the newly crowned national junior cross-country champions, bid for more success in the Kit Kat All-Ireland Schools Championships at St Clare’s Sports Ground, DCU, this afternoon.

DAVID McCARTHY (St Augustine’s, Dungarvan) made an impressive return to cross-country running with victory in the senior boys’ race at the Kit Kat Munster Schools Championships at St Augustine’s College on Saturday.