Cullen salvages Irish pride

MARY CULLEN managed to win back some pride for Ireland with a fine fourth place in the senior women’s race at the SPAR European Cross-Country Championships in Brussels yesterday as Martin Fagan could only watch from his knees as his medal hopes faded after a crashing fall in the senior men’s race.

All around there was disappointment, as Linda Byrne, sixth last year, faded from eighth back to 10th on the final lap of the U-23 women’s race and fears surrounding Andrew Ledwith’s recovery after finishing third in the NCAA championships were realised as he faded to 37th in the senior men’s race.

David McCarthy also showed signs of his NCAA effort in the men’s U-23 race.

There’s hope aplenty for next year when Athletics Ireland hosts the European Championships at Santry after the women’s junior team, led by Sara Treacy, and the U-23 team, both finished fourth in their contests.

Mary Cullen’s performance in the senior women’s race was hallmarked in courage. Hilda Kibet, another Kenyan athlete who has based herself in The Netherlands, was a runaway winner, but the Sligo woman, based at Providence, Rhode Island where she is coached by Ray Treacy, led the race for a time and had a medal in her sights going into to the final lap.

She was a major contributor to a ferocious early pace that split the field to pieces. One of the first victims of the pressure at the front was Olympic steeplechase champion and world record holder Gulnara Galkina-Samitova, who would eventually drift outside the top 20 before battling her way back up to finish 12th.

Once Kibet escaped, Mary Cullen lost touch with Augusto and then became embroiled in a fierce battle for the bronze medal with another Portuguese runner Ines Monteiro, as Spaniard Rosa Morato loomed.

Monteiro eventually wrested the bronze medal position from the Irish woman, whose previous best placing in this race was 11th in 2005.

“To be honest I thought I could get a medal because in knew I was in that kind of shape. But I struggled a little on the second of the 1,500m laps,” Cullen said.

“Fair play to the two Portuguese girls, they are tough runners. I felt I was closing at the end. I am happy. It was a muddy course and I am not exceptionally good in the mud.”

Sergiy Lebid (Ukraine) retained the senior men’s title when he won the race for a sensational eighth time, having competed every year since the European championships were introduced.

But he said afterwards that this was his sweetest victory as he beat Mo Farrah of Great Britain to avenge his defeat of two years ago in Milan with Mostafa Mohamed (Sweden) — another African-born runner — in third place.

Martin Fagan’s 24th placing gave no indication of his contribution to the race. The Mullingar man — seventh last year — again led for much of the early part of the race. He went to the front from the start and fought off challenges from Sergio Sanchez (Spain), then Portugal’s Rui Silva and even Lebid, who was tracked throughout by Farah.

With each lap, the course got more treacherous, with two hairpin bends particularly bad and it was on the first of those that Fagan got spiked by Silva when sandwiched between the Portuguese and Lebid and suffered a crashing fall. Both Silva and Lebid escaped, but the Mullingar Harrier could only watch on his knees as the principals raced clear. Lebid eventually escaped from Farrah to claim revenge and take the title.

“I like to run an even pace and when something like that disrupts you and throws you off your stride, it is very hard to pick yourself up in those conditions,” Fagan said.

Linda Byrne, sixth last year, was in eighth position going out on the final lap, but the deteriorating conditions did not help her and she was eventually forced back to 10th position. And while she was disappointed with her placing, the fact that the U23 women’s team finished fourth augurs well for the future.

“I am very disappointed, I thought I would have been right up there in the top five,” the DSD runner said.

Roseanne Galligan from Newbridge showed signs of a return to her junior form when finishing 21st, just ahead of ultra consistent Ciara Durkan from Skerries, with Hollie Knight, another Irish athlete who competed in the NCAA championships, 26th.

The junior women’s team also finished fourth but it was another case of ‘what if’ after flu victim, Rebecca ffrench O’Carroll drifted back into 60th position. Her twin sister, Charlotte, ran to form in 15th place as the newly crowned inter-counties champion Sara Treacy led the Irish team home in 12th place.

Stephanie Twell, winning for a third successive year, led Great Britain to the team title.

Craig Murphy (Togher), fifth European in this year’s world championships, was the first of the Irish juniors in 19th position.