Big Apple swoons over Sonia

A BITTERLY cold wind swept across Manhattan's Central Park yesterday but inside the Tavern on the Green it was blatantly obvious New York had warmed to Sonia O'Sullivan as the assembled media swarmed around her like bees to honey.

Everybody who was anybody appeared to be there including the chairman of the boards Eamonn Coghlan, who wooed the masses in Madison Square Garden over the years. Many of the contenders for Sunday's marathon were also in attendance but paled into insignificance as the greening of the New York marathon gathered momentum.

Observers were primarily interested in Sonia O'Sullivan and Mark Carroll. Once the formalities of the early morning press conference were dispensed with and press chief Richard Finn announced all the competitors would be available for table interviews it was clear only two tables mattered and O'Sullivan's was undoubtedly the top table.