Sonia sharpens up in 1500m
She should have had a 1,500m race at the BMC meet in Watford the weekend before last but felt unwell during the week and eventually withhdrew.
“She trained really well on Saturday,” revealed Nic Bideau yesterday. “And she had a pretty good week last week.
“The week before she was a bit unwell and went to Watford but she stopped after a couple of laps. The 1,500m in Gateshead next weekend should be a good race for her.”
He insisted, however, that Cork on Saturday week will be a very important race. Apart from the fact that it will be her only 5,000m race between now and the Olympics it will also give her an opportunity to work on some things.
“It is not going to be the toughest race in the world for her. We would hope that it will be run something like an Olympic heat. We will see what the weather is like and we can come up with something she can practice with for the Olympics,” he said.
Dick Hodgins has been busy putting a strong field together for the women’s 5,000m at The Mardyke on July 3 and a new and exciting addition is the World Universities champion, Eloise Poppett from Australia, who beat two outstanding athletes in Zhang Yuhong of China and Cristina Casandra of Romania to win the title in Daegu last August.
Quite a number of athletes will have the BUPA Cork City Sports to the forefront of their minds over the coming two weeks including Ireland’s new high jump sensation Adrian O’Dwyer from Kilkenny.
After competing with the Irish team in the Spar European Cup at the weekend, he flew directly from Iceland to Algiers yesterday for Thursday’s international meeting which will feature 150 athletes representing 44 nations.
He then plans a quick return home for the International at Santry Stadium and then Cork City Sports in a race to achieve the qualifying standard for Athens, which puts the bar at 2.30m.
And Craig Mottram is set to line up for the 1,500m in Cork, which will add a new dimension to that event.
The Australian, who has a best of 3:35.40, will go to the line as favourite and provide James Nolan with a perfect opponent in his build-up to the Olympics.
Nolan goes tin the Morton Mile at the Dublin international meeting on Friday night. The Tullamore man, who broke four minutes for the mile on his home track a couple of weeks ago, will be having only his second race in Europe.
Cathal Lombard, the new Irish record holder for 10,000m, and Mark Carroll, who held the record up to last month, both go in the 3,000m at the Norwich Union meet in Gateshead on Sunday.
“It is a bit unusual all right,” Lombard admitted yesterday. “It would appear as if we are working to a somewhat similar programme at the moment.
“We will both compete in Gateshead on Sunday, Rome two weeks later and then we will both go to altitude in July although we won’t actually train together. I will have my coach, Joe Doonan, with me and I would presume that Mark will work to his own programme.”
Lombard does not quite know what to expect in Gateshead on Sunday.
“I have not run a 3k for four years but this will be a very important race for me as regards leg speed and getting some sharpness into the legs before I go to altitude.
“Obviously I am still looking towards the 10,000m for Athens but this will be a very competitive race.”
In Gateshead and Rome he faces two very competitive races featuring the irrepressible Kenenisa Bekele, who is on a record-breaking spree this season.
“It is great to get into those type of races,” Lombard said, revelling in his new found notoriety.
“In the past you would dream about those things. But Gateshead will have the two best distance runners in the world and, while I don’t expect to be near the front, both Gateshead and Rome will be very good for me as they provide me with the opportunity to compete against the best and, hopefully, run personal best times. As well the environment is good as it is important to experience the atmosphere that surrounds the big events.”
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