O’Sullivan debuts as Lombard chases record

SONIA O’SULLIVAN makes her seasonal debut over 5,000m at tonight’s track meet at Stanford, California.

O’Sullivan will be joined at the event by Rosemary Ryan and Marie Davenport (competing in 10,000m) while Cathal Lombard bids to add the Olympic 10,000m standard to the 5,000m mark he posted last year. Alastair Craig runs in the 5,000m race.

The Leevale man, returning from a stint training at altitude in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is targeting the national record of 27:46.82 set by his Leevale clubmate, Mark Carroll at this event four years ago.

“I don’t have an official start list for the race yet,” he said yesterday from California. “But it is going to be a pretty strong field and I am looking forward to the run. I have been in the US now for the past seven weeks, training at altitude with my coach, Joe Doonan, and then travelling to Palo Alto, near San Francisco, where Stanford University is located.

“Training has been going well and I opened my season with a quick 13:26.00 for 5,000m at the Mount Sac Relays in LA two weeks ago. I felt very strong and comfortable in that race and could have run faster if the pace had been quicker in the middle part of the race.

“The race is going to be very fast with the early laps being paced by my Leevale clubmate, Brendan Fitzgibbon, and then the World Indoor 3,000m champion, Bernard Lagat from Kenya, will take us to 5,000m in 13:40.

“Now that is very quick. My aim is to achieve the Olympic A standard of 27:49.00. The competition is led by US record holder Meb Keflezighi and the legendary Bob Kennedy along with a number of Kenyan athletes.

“I expect to pass through half way in about 13:50 and if I can maintain that pace I will be on target for an Irish record. That would be a great bonus but the qualifying time and a place in the Olympic 10,000m final is the most important thing. You can chase records any time but the Olympic Games come around only every four years and they are special,” he said.

O’Sullivan has completed training at Laguna Mountain and is aiming to compete at Balmoral next weekend while Ryan and Davenport aim to secure Olympic qualification tonight.