Grand prix the chance of a lifetime for Leevale runner

CATHAL LOMBARD, with a qualifying standard at 10,000m for the world championships under his belt, has targeted the A standard for 5,000m for Paris and next year’s Olympic Games and it could come sooner than expected.

The 27-year-old Leevale runner has been handed the opportunity of a lifetime in the form of a place in the 5,000m at next weekend's Grand Prix II meeting in Heusden, Belgium, to further his ambitions.

The field could include Haile Gebrselassie, the two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion over 10,000m, who has set four world records at 5,000m.

"Whether or not he is in the field it is going to be a very fast race," the Dublin-based solicitor insisted. "I could go close to the 5,000m standard for the world championships and the Olympic Games."

While his 10,000m run in Watford where he finished fourth in a star-studded field of 21 in 28:05.27 has imbued him with a new confidence, he is not just basing his belief on that particular run.

"Right now I am in pretty good form," he said. "My training has been going exceptionally well and I feel I am ready to run fast."

He ran the race of his life in Watford where he mixed with two top class Africans, Fabian Tanzania and Francis Kipkoech-Bowen of Kenya until the closing stages when he drifted to finish fourth, overtaken by Karl Keska.

"Karl Keska was just ahead of me and he will be in the race at the weekend. So, too, will Adam Goucher, an Olympic and world championship finalist," he said.

"But the race I am really looking forward to is the final of the 10,000m a straight final in Paris on August 24. That is going to be a great race with the Olympic and world champion and the new guy on the block, Kenenisa Bekele. We are talking about a great battle and a fast time.

"My personal ambition is to break 28 minutes and I feel I can do that and maybe go close to Mark Carroll's Irish record (27:46.82).

"I have spoken with Liam Hennessy and he has told me I will definitely be running in the world championships unless somebody comes along and runs the A standard."

He will contest the 5,000m at the national track and field championships the weekend after next when Seamus Power, the 10,000m champion, will revert to the shorter distance.

Details of a new sponsorship for the championships will be announced at Morton Stadium later today. The second day's session will commence at 11 am to allow for live TV coverage.

Meanwhile the race walkers are putting the finishing touches to their preparations for the world championships at Fontroneu, high up in the Pyrenees but without Robert Heffernan who has abandoned his hopes for competing in Paris at the end of the month.

The Corkman suffered two stress fractures in his back and has just got back into training again. He has been running along the beach in Youghal in recent days. He is also an outstanding cross-country runner as well as being a world class race walker.

"I am told the injury both sides of my back is as a result of overtraining. I got back training again last week when I ran 50 miles. I will bring that up to 70 miles this week and I will get back walking next week," he said. "I just need to have another scan done to make sure everything is all right.

"I could possibly get fit enough to compete in Paris but I just would not be able to do myself justice. Maybe if I needed the experience or something I could go but I have been through all that.

"Right now my focus is next year and the Olympic Games. I have had a very good run up to this year no serious injury so maybe it was no harm at all that is should happen to me this year.

"A bad injury puts everything in perspective and you have to sit back and take stock. For the past couple of weeks it has been a bit weird with me back here and all the others training in France but at least I have turned the corner and I just can't wait to get going again. I know I will be a hungrier athlete after this. It has been difficult," he said.

Double world record holder Gillian O'Sullivan, Oliver Loughnane and Jamie Costin have been training for the past couple of weeks in the Pyrenees and will return next weekend to wind down for the world championships.

"We had a very hard week last week and we train hard again this week," Gillian O'Sullivan said. "It has been very good. There is a big number of athletes here including the double Olympic champion, Robert Korzeniowski and they are not just walkers. Gabriela Szabo is here and I saw Maria Mutola here last week.

"We have been working well. Our coach, Michael Lane, came out last week so it was good to have him here. We go home at the weekend and can start winding down for Paris."