O'Sullivan refuses to be blown off course

High winds blowing relentlessly off the Solent ruined any hopes Sonia O’Sullivan had of breaking the world 10-mile record again at the BUPA Great South Run.

The conditions restricted O’Sullivan to victory in 53 minutes 26 seconds, although that was still a commendable time in swirling gusts that troubled all 12,500 participants.

O’Sullivan had been planning to better the time of exactly 51 minutes – then a world record – which she set in winning at Portsmouth 13 months ago. The Olympic 5,000m silver-medallist had hinted that she was in the right condition to reclaim her record from Kenya’s Lornah Kiplagat.

“How things change in 24 hours,” O’Sullivan said after watching yesterday’s perfect conditions turn nasty today. “Still, winning in a big race is the most important thing.

“There was no way any records were going to be broken in this weather.”

O’Sullivan won the women’s race convincingly, beating Charlotte Dale into second by a comfortable 62 seconds. The Irishwoman was nevertheless impressed by teenager Dale, who eclipsed 2002 runner-up Natalie Harvey of Australia by 55 seconds.

“Didn’t she run brilliantly?” O’Sullivan said. “Charlotte’s so small, I’m surprised she wasn’t just blown over!”

The 19-year-old was delighted with her performance after finishing 31st in the overall mixed field and two places ahead of Liz McColgan in the women’s results.

She showed no ill-effects after her tough test in fierce wind and said: “I really enjoyed the race. It was my first 10-miler and I want to do more.

“I had an upset stomach before the race but once I got started it went away and I really enjoyed it.”

McColgan, widely recognised as one of the world’s greatest-ever distance runners, was also impressed by Dale’s run.

The 39-year-old, who was representing the Leukaemia Research Team and clocked 56:12, said: “I’m certain she has the ability to make it to the top over 10,000m and obviously in the the longer distance road and cross country events, if she continues her progress.”

It was a good day for the McColgan household as Liz’s daughter Eilish, 12, was an easy winner of the junior Great South Run.

“I’ve never pushed her into running. She only trains twice a week but she’s already proving to be canny,” said McColgan of her talented offspring, also third in last month’s junior Great North Run.

In the men’s event John Yuda, brushing aside a hamstring injury which hampered him at the World Half Marathon Championships last weekend, showed his class.

Breaking away from the field just before four miles, the Commonwealth 10,000m bronze-medallist secured victory in a very fast 46:35.

Only three other winners – and in much better weather – have gone faster than the Tanzanian’s winning time in the previous 12 meetings, a testimony to Yuda’s outstanding talent.

“I was carrying an injury and just couldn’t respond when it became a sprint for the line and finished fifth,” Yuda said of last week’s event.

“Of course it is nice winning here in a good time in tough conditions – but obviously the World Half Marathon would have been a greater achievement.”

Behind Yuda was Julius Kibet in 47:21, finishing well clear of fellow Kenyan and defending champion Simon Kasamili. The two-times winner of the event clocked 48:16.