Belated Brussels debut for Carroll

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.

The 36-year-old Leevale athlete looks after the interests of the Irish athletes based in the US on behalf of Athletics Ireland these days, but he ran himself into contention for a place on the team which he helped put together when he won a 5k road race in Wakefield, Rhode Island last week in a course record time of 14 mins 39 secs.

A former runner-up in the NCAA cross-country championships while on scholarship at Providence College, he was yesterday included in the senior men’s team for the European cross-country championships alongside Andrew Ledwith, who finished third in the NCAA cross-country championships in Indiana on Monday.