MARY CULLEN underscored her medal potential, while Andrew Led with signalled his intentions for next month’s SPAR European Cross-Country Championships with sweeping victories in the Woodies DIY National Inter-Counties cross-country championships held over Kilbeggan Racecourse yesterday.

DEIRDRE BYRNE came within one second of creating the first major upset of the year in athletics when she almost pipped one of Britain’s great medal hopes for the 2012 Olympics, Stephanie Twell, for the women’s title at the IAAF International Cross-Country challenge at the Greenmount Campus, in Antrim.

VINNY MULVEY (Raheny Shamrock AC) raced to a solo and very satisfying victory in yesterday’s Ballycotton ‘10’ and then confirmed what more than 3,000 entrants proclaimed that this is the best 10-miler in these islands.

VINNY MULVEY (Raheny Shamrock), the winner two years ago when he also won the national senior cross-country title, will go to the line as the favourite when the phenomenon that is the “Ballycotton 10” gets under way on Sunday.

FIONNUALA BRITTON hopes for more medal success at the European cross-country championships in the Spanish city of Toro tomorrow.

Ireland have suffered a major blow ahead of Sunday's European Cross-Country Championships in the Spanish city of Toro.

GARETH TURNBULL, Mary Cullen and Maria McCambridge will not contest Sunday’s European cross-country championships in Toro, Spain.

Gerry Ryan and Rosemary Ryan have won the Adidas Irish Runner Five Mile road races in the Phoenix Park.

Clare athlete Marie Davenport has won the 2007 Flora Women's Mini-Marathon in Dublin.

ATHLETICS IRELAND could host the 2009 European cross-country championships.

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

Fionnuala Britton took silver today for Ireland in the Under 23 event at the Spar European Cross Country Championships in Legnano, Italy.

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.

MARK CHRISTIE (Westmeath) claimed his first national senior title with victory at the inter-counties cross-country championships at St Augustine’s College, Dungarvan, yesterday.

A RECORD 3,145 participants took part in yesterday’s Irish Examiner Limerick Women’s Mini-Marathon.

THERE were smiling faces all round yesterday as delighted collectors of coins, photographs and other priceless memorabilia left Waterford City Archives.

Joanne Cuddihy announced herself as the new star of Irish athletics in Santry today as she added the 400 metres title to the 200m gold she won yesterday at the Woodie's DIY National Track and Field Championships.

AUTUMN will see another major milestone in the history of Templemore Athletic Club with the upgrading of existing facilities.

Europe's leading 5,000m runner, Ireland’s Alistair Cragg was beaten into third place by two Kenyans in the men’s 1,500m today at the Bupa Ireland Cork City Sports.

Only one Irish athlete per race will compete in next month's World Cross-Championships in Japan.

VINNY MULVEY (Raheny Shamrock) made the 100-metre trip from his apartment to claim the National inter-club cross-country championship title in spectacular fashion at Santry Demesne on Saturday from young Mark Christie (Mullingar Harriers) and his flatmate, Killian Lonergan.

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.

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

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.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN makes her seasonal debut over 5,000m at tonight’s track meet at Stanford, California.

MARK CARROLL will welcome the news that the AAI have decided to try to persuade the Olympic Council of Ireland to abandon their July 3 deadline for Olympic qualification.

WHILE the Irish competitors in the Flora London Marathon were having a disastrous day on Sunday the Irish women’s team at the Ekiden Relays in Brussels were enjoying a profitable weekend with a sweeping victory while the men’s team finished in second place.

SOONER or later it had to happen. The Kenyans, who have dominated all the major events in the world at some time or other, arrived in Cork yesterday to claim one of the most prized titles in these islands in the form of the Ballycotton 10.

CATHERINA McKIERNAN and Rosemary Ryan are set to renew rivalry at Dundalk Racecourse tomorrow when they line up for Rás na hÉireann.

CATHERINA McKIERNAN yesterday heralded her return to form when capturing the national inter-club cross-country title which she last won 11 years ago.

THE distance runners will reclaim the limelight from the sprinters at the national inter-club cross-country championships on Sunday in Roscommon where Catherina McKiernan makes an overdue return to domestic competition.

MARK CARROLL yesterday appealed to the Olympic Council of Ireland to extend the June 30 date for Olympics qualification and give those behind schedule through no fault of their own a chance to make the team for Athens.

WITH Rosemary Ryan, Catherina McKiernan and Seamus Power all missing the event, Peter Matthews is the main Southern challenger at the Reebok international cross-country race at Stormont Castle on Saturday.

EVERY cloud has a silver lining and that’s how it turned out for the Irish women’s team at the European cross-country championships in Edinburgh yesterday when the dark rain cloud dipped behind the Haggis Knowe and they swept past a shocked French team to claim their silver team medals.

SHE can’t think of a better way to end the year than a medal from European cross-country championships.

Catherina McKiernan has been selected for Ireland’s Spar European Cross-Country Championships despite missing a key meeting.

SÉAMUS POWER took the national Inter-counties Cross-Country Championships to a new level in Belvedere, Mullingar, yesterday, when he once again battled his way through the pain barrier to win the title for an amazing ninth successive time.

SEAMUS POWER bids for a sensational ninth consecutive national inter-counties cross-country title on Sunday, and his training partner and arch rival, Peter Matthews, admits it will take a super human performance to dethrone the Clareman.

Catherina McKiernan romped to victory in the Margate International cross country meeting in England today – and then set her sights on rolling back the years at next month’s European Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh.

SEAMUS POWER is hoping to at least repeat his last performance at Margate when he lines up for the Grand Prix race there tomorrow.

THE streets of Cork city were thronged yesterday as 5,000 athletes took part in the 2003 Evening Echo Ladies Mini Marathon.

ROSEMARY RYAN, with the world half marathon championships just around the corner, will go to the line as favourite for the Evening Echo Cork Women’s Mini-Marathon on Sunday afternoon.