O’Sullivan returns to the big stage in the heat of New Delhi

SONIA O’SULLIVAN returns to the big stage tomorrow when she lines up for the 13th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in New Delhi.

Last Sunday she finished sixth in the Great North Run to indicate that she has no fear of the distance, although she lost some ground after the 10 mile mark. Her decision to return to the distance so quickly is surprising, as is her decision to run at all in New Delhi where, despite the early morning start, it is expected much of the race will be contested in temperatures of up to 50 degrees.

But she is training with Benita Johnson, who won the Great North Run and finished third behind Paula Radcliffe and Berhane Adere in this race last year, and that fact alone obviously gives her an indication of her form at the moment.

The Australian may have been a surprise packet in the Algarve last year but she travels as a medal favourite this year, if not the firm favourite.

Adere is not on the Ethiopian team for the event, although it should be pointed out that their list is just provisional.

The Ethiopian women’s team will be led by Teyiba Erkesso, bronze medallist in the short course race at the world cross-country championships in Brussels last March after finishing fifth behind Benita Johnson in the long course race the previous day.

She missed out on a place in Ethiopia’s star-studded Olympic team and was only 21st in this event in Vilamoura last year.

It will be O’Sullivan’s debut in the event and with so many of the well-known Africans missing, she could be close to the medals as well.

There are first prizes of €24,179 on offer for both men and women’s races with €12,092 for second and €8,062 for third and graduating down to €2,418 for sixth.

With hopes running high for this year’s Spar European Cross-Country Championships in Germany, the AAI will be hoping that O’Sullivan will show an interest in that event too.

The policy for selection has already been decided and it has been agreed that Ireland will be represented by full teams in all four events - senior and junior men and senior and junior women.

And the first three across the line at the national inter-counties championships at St. Augustine’s College, Dungarvan, at the end of November, will gain automatic selection.

Seamus Power, who won the national half marathon title recently, wisely turned down an offer to compete in New Delhi this weekend as he continues his build up to the inter-counties championships where he will be bidding to extend his sensational run in an event that he has already claimed as his own.

He was in Limerick last weekend for the squad session when O’Sullivan’s coach, Alan Storey, was the guest speaker.

There will be a new departure this season when the national inter-club championships, scheduled for the end of February, will be staged on a Saturday for the first time.

The venue this time is Santry, adjacent to Morton Stadium, and in a park which many consider a perfect site for the infrastructure needed to take Irish athletics to a new level.

Irish athletics needs an indoor stadium - not just a shared facility but one which would be available for training every day of the week as well as for competition and this, in the eyes of many, is where it should be situated.