McCarthy on track to enter long and short course races

IT APPEARS as if The AAI are likely to agree to Martin McCarthy’s who asked expressed the desire request to be entered in both the short and long course races at the world cross-country championships in Lausanne at the end of the month.

The newly crowned national champion became the first Corkman to win the senior inter-club title since Donie Walsh, also from Leevale, won the last of his four titles at Multyfarnham in 1978.

The Ballinhassig man, who went to train in South Africa in preparation for Sunday’s showpiece, is preparing for a debut marathon in Berlin in September and he showed signs of his readiness the strength that comes with such preparation in the way he handled the steep hill in Rathdrum on Sunday.

“Right now I am in the shape of my life,” he said. “I know I would have no problem with back to back races in Lausanne - in fact I would relish that opportunity - and I would hope that the AAI would enter me as an individual for the long course race which will be held on the second day.”

Yesterday Liam Hennessy, the AAI’s International Secretary, said they will revisit the matter when the selectors meet to name the teams after the short course trials in Dunleer.

“I would not see any problem with that,” he said. “Cathal Lombard has also expressed an interest in the long course race. Obviously the focus will be on the teams for the short course races. That is a decision that was made some time ago. But I would hope that we could enter athletes as individuals in the long course.”

While the emphasis may be on short course teams and the short course trials, Hennessy insisted the main event was Sunday’s 12,000m race, pointing out that it was disappointing to see that some athletes had opted to compete only in the short course race in Dunleer on Sunday week.

“We can’t afford to downgrade what is undoubtedly the main event,” he said. “This is something we will have to discuss with the major athletes.”We can’t afford to have the 12k suffering after all it is the major event.”

The team for the world indoor championships will be named later this week but the indications are that a 4 x 400m team will be entered despite the fact that neither Roby Daly nor Tomas Coman will be available.

“With Dave McCarthy so impressive at the weekend we were obviously going to have to consider a 4 x 400m team and we will just have to look at the programme to see how it will fit in with the other events in which we will be involved,” Hennessy said.

McCarthy finished second in the 400m final (46.68 secs) but that was after an even more impressive performance in Saturday’s heats.

It all shows that the balance of power is switching to sprinting but There was good news for the middle distance runners as well at the weekend when Alastair Cragg, our newest sensation, added a new dimension to his talents by breaking four minutes for the mile with a 3:59.14 run in the South Eastern Championships.

Unfortunately he will not be available for either the world indoor championships which clash with the NCAA’s or the world cross-country championships on account of his college commitments.