Fionnuala McCormack will have to overcome her Turkish nemesis at the European Cross Country Championships in Chia, Italy, tomorrow.

Fionnuala McCormack will again lead Irish hopes at the European Cross Country Championships in Chia, Italy on December 11.

It wasn’t what he wanted, but that says more about his mentality than his performance. Paul Pollock finished a respectable 32nd in the Olympic marathon yesterday, reaching the finish in Rio’s Sambodromo in 2:16:24.

Three years ago, Ciara Mageean was unable to run, beset with injuries and staring down the barrel of career-threatening surgery.

For several of Ireland’s best marathoners, the door finally closed on Olympic qualification at the London Marathon yesterday, with the race to Rio de Janeiro now left in the hands of selectors ahead of next month’s deadline.

Lizzie Lee produced a front-running performance to win the national half marathon championships in 73 minutes and 27 seconds on the streets of Dublin yesterday.

UK Athletics has found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mo Farah in the initial findings of its investigation into allegations of doping against his coach Alberto Salazar.

Mark English advanced to the 800m semi-finals by running an impressive 1:48.10 at the European Indoor Championships in Prague yesterday.

A blistering opening morning session for the Irish team saw four athletes progress to semi-finals at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Prague.

Mark English is not shying away from the expectation that will rest squarely on his young shoulders when he leads a dozen-strong Irish challenge at next month’s European Indoor Athletics Championship. 

Mark English wrapped up his preparations for Prague 2015 by taking the Glo Health national indoor 800 meter title in Athlone I.T today.

A surprise, but welcome, women’s team bronze medal brightened up a mixed day of Irish performances in Borovets as Fionnuala Britton battled to a sixth place finish at the European Cross Country Championships yesterday.

Fionnuala Britton led Ireland women’s team to bronze at today’s European cross country championships in Samokova, Bulgaria.

Fionnuala Britton will earn her 31st international cap at next month’s European cross country championships in Bulgaria.

Athletics: Fionnuala Britton romped to her fifth GloHealth Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships title in Dundalk yesterday while Paul Pollock defended his crown in a thrilling three-way sprint finish.

Fionnuala Britton raced to her second consecutive Glo Health Inter-Counties cross-country title and declared she was ready for a third European cross country title.

A bittersweet final day for Ireland at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich saw fourth and fifth places achieved, with another national record taken – but so much more was possible.

Daniele Meucci has won the men's marathon for Italy at the European Athletics Championships ahead of Yared Shegumo of Poland and Aleksey Reunkov of Russia.

Two new national records were set by Irish relay teams on the penultimate day of the European Athletics Championships in Zurich.

One of Ireland’s best long-distance runners has all but given up hope of competing at the European Championships in Zurich in two weeks’ time as his application for Irish citizenship has yet to come through.

Rob Heffernan will lead an Irish team of 25 athlete’s to Zurich for next months Europeans, which take place from August 12 – 17.

Fionnuala Britton bids to get 2014 off to a good start at the Antrim IAAF International Cross Country event in Greenmount today in a stellar line-up while Paul Pollock will have to pit his wits against world cross country champion Japhet Korir of Kenya.

Michael Mulhare produced a solid performance in the Men’s senior race at the 2013 European Cross Country Championships to finish in 15th position.

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.

By Will Downing

Fionnuala Britton’s manager, Ian Chaney, insisted she will be focusing purely on her training, with media contact at a strict minimum, upon yesterday’s announcement of the Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on December 8.

Fionnuala Britton triumphed in convincing fashion at the Woodie’s DIY National Inter-County Cross-Country championships at Santry Demesne yesterday, while Paul Pollock dominated the men’s race and declared himself a contender for the European championships in December.

Marathon legend Dick Hooper believes there is “a golden opportunity” for domestic winners of Monday’s Airtricity Dublin Marathon with no elite foreign entries toeing the line due to budgetary constraints.

Paul Pollock has recorded the best ever position achieved by an Irish athlete in a World Athletics Championships men’s marathon.

Geoffrey Ndungu of Kenya retained his Dublin Marathon title yesterday, finishing in 2:11.09, well outside last year’s course record time of 2:08.33.

Kenya’s Geofrey Ndungu successfully reclaimed his Dublin Marathon title in a time of 2:11:09 this afternoon.

Maria McCambridge won’t lack motivation when she contests today’s Dublin City Marathon.

JOE SWEENEY strengthened his stranglehold on the domestic cross-country scene when he produced another powerful front-running display to retain his Woodies DIY inter-counties title at Sligo Racecourse yesterday.

SUZANNE HUET (Dundrum/South Dublin) achieved her qualifying standard for the European junior championships when she won the 5,000m in 16:52.67 at yesterday’s national junior and under-23 championships in Tullamore.

Alastair Cragg will lead the Irish team in the European Cross Country Championships scheduled for Tilburg in Holland on December 11.

BUPA Cork City Sports received another off-season accolade this week when last summer's edition was ranked sixth on the evaluation list of outdoor meetings for 2005, with the points total reaching a stunning 79,994 - only slightly behind the total for the second-placed meeting.

THE fall-out from the BUPA Cork City Sports was evident at the national junior and under-23 championships staged at the CIT Track in Bishopstown yesterday, where the sprinters grabbed much of the limelight.