Derval in knots ahead of northern exposure

DERVAL O’ROURKE certainly knows the ropes, or she should after running in them for weeks. The pictures coming back from the Athletics Ireland training camp in Portugal last month all featured the former world indoor champion charging forward with her strength and conditioning coach, Mark McCabe, hanging on to her with two ropes.

What they did not reveal was the fact that she was going through a period of recuperation after a calf muscle injury threatened her participation in next month’s world indoor championships in Doha.

Yesterday she was focused on this weekend’s Irish national indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast when she revealed the logic behind the ropes.