Portuguese double in Dublin race

Portuguese stars Rui Pedro Silva and Ana Dulce Felix surprised the pre-race favourites when winning their respective titles at the Great Ireland Run in Dublin today.

Silva just held off the more fancied pair of Paul Tergat and the host nation’s Martin Fagan in a thrilling sprint finish at the end of their 10km race, winning in a time of 28 minutes 45 seconds.

Tergat – last month’s Lake Biwa marathon winner – showed good speed to finish just a second behind Silva with Fagan the same margin behind Kenya’s former world track 10,000m record holder.

The trio – plus American Andrew Carlson (28:48) – pulled clear of the field to set up the thrilling finish after watching each other closely in the early stages.

With a kilometre remaining all four looked fresh enough to score a victory but in the sprint for the line Silva outkicked everyone to achieve one of the best successes of his career.

Despite not quite having the legs to get ahead of Silva, veteran Tergat was more than happy to produce an impressive performance – particularly after his exertions in Japan.

“To run like that wasn’t just very good, it was fantastic,” said the 39-year-old superstar.

“To have the speed I displayed just three weeks after the marathon really surprised me.

“I’m now planning a few more short races and what I learned today is that I know I have the endurance – now I must put in more speed work in training.

“I’m really thrilled at the result and as I’ve said before, I fully intend despite my age continuing my career. Now isn’t the time to be talking about retirement.”

Fagan, based in the Unites States and rapidly emerging as Ireland’s first world class athlete for many years, decided to run despite a niggling injury.

The man who smashed the Irish half-marathon record a few weeks ago revealed: “I felt flat and didn’t feel good.

“It was horrible but I wouldn’t have missed the race for the world as I wanted to run on home soil.

“This was my first international competition here and I ran despite suffering from what might be a groin injury – but which I hope is a hernia which I have had before.

“I’ll have an MRI tomorrow and keep my fingers crossed when I see what the results are.

“I’m disappointed as I did want to win today and it was amazing the amount of support I received from the spectators.”

Felix clinched the women’s title with a tactical breakaway – just eight days after being the first European finisher at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Amman.

Sensing her main rivals Mary Cullen and Jelena Prokopcuka were feeling the pace, she raised the pace going uphill in the final kilometre to pull away and win in 32:18.

Ireland’s Cullen, third in this year’s European Indoor Championships 3000, finished runner-up seven seconds behind while Paris half-marathon champion Prokopcuka was third in 32:30.

Cullen, also based in the United States, explained: “It was very tough in the last two kilometres but it was definitely a good race for me as I was running well over distance.

“That can only make me stronger for the summer season and I’m certainly thinking of doing a few more 10km races in the future.”

Looking ahead to August’s IAAF World Championships, she added: “My top priority is to achieve the 5,000m qualifier of 15:10 and I hope to do this shortly at a meeting in California.

“I’m happy for now to continue living in the USA but I intend travelling back and forth for a few more races in the Great Run series.”