World Indoors hurdles champion Derval O’Rourke has pulled out of the Woodie’s DIY Irish Indoor Athletic Championships at the Odyssey Arena Belfast this weekend.

Headline acts Derval O’Rourke and David Gillick will both want to forget today's 56th running of the Cork City Sports in a hurry.

PAUL HESSION will be chasing Paul Brizzell’s national 200m record at The Mardyke on Saturday afternoon when some of the world’s best athletes will assemble for Cork City Sports.

DERVAL O’ROURKE admitted yesterday she faces one of the most difficult assignments of the year when she lines up for the 100m hurdles at Cork City Sports at The Mardyke on June 30.

DERVAL O’ROURKE will kick off her outdoor season at The Mardyke on Saturday, where she claims star billing at the BUPA Cork City Sports.

DERVAL O’ROURKE of Leevale achieved her second national record in eight days when she retained her 60 metres hurdles title in a sensational 7.90 seconds at the National Indoor championships at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena yesterday.

Ballymena woman Anna Boyle and Cork's Derval O'Rourke set new Irish senior records at the 2006 Irish Indoor Athletics Championships in Belfast this evening.

In-form Derval O’Rourke faces a tough 60 metres hurdles encounter at the Irish Indoor Championships in Belfast this weekend.

DERVAL O’ROURKE is all set to take her place in the line-up for the 100m hurdles at the BUPA Cork City Sports this afternoon relieved to be finally able to get her outdoor season under way after an injury scare.

THEY may have reclaimed their position in the top division but British athletics suffered a stunning blow at the European Cup match in Leiria, Portugal, yesterday, when Paula Radcliffe trailed in a remote second to Volha Krautsova from Belarus in the women’s 5,000m - a performance that must throw her plans for the world championships into turmoil.

Derval O'Rourke's first appearance at an Olympics Games went doubly quick for the Cork athlete tonight, as she bowed out of the 100m hurdles in her first round heat.

IRISH sprinters had a sensational weekend at the British AAA indoor championships and world championships trials in Sheffield when they took eight of the 12 sprint medals.