Sonia is set to record quick follow-up to fine road run

AFTER her fine run in Hyde Park last weekend — missing the world record for 5k on the road by a mere two seconds — Sonia O’Sullivan is set for a quick follow-up in the BUPA Great South Run in Portsmouth on Sunday.

If there was an Irish record for 10 miles on the road then it would surely be broken in this race.

Catherina McKiernan passed the 10 mile mark in under 53 minutes en route to her half marathon victory in Lisbon while Sonia, herself, was also under 53 minutes at 10 miles when she won the Great North Run in 1999.

“We don’t have any records for 10 miles as such but Catherina’s split time would have to be the fastest by an Irish woman,” AAI International Secretary, Liam Hennessy, said.

Sonia O’Sullivan’s only other race over 10 miles was the Nike Ballycotton 10 last year when she was pregnant with Sophie.

She won in 55:37 from Valerie Vaughan who went to the Great South Run in Portsmouth afterwards and finished fourth in 55:35 with victory going to the Tanzanian, Restituta Joseph, in 52:36.

Australia’s Susie Power will provide her biggest and probably only threat in Portsmouth but she is unlikely to pose a serious problem. O’Sullivan will line up alongside Paula Radcliffe in the Nike London 10k Run on September 22 but will not race against her.

“Sonia will not be racing that,” her partner, Nick Bideau said. “She will be using it as a training run.

“Right now she is training for the Great North Run on October 6 and that is the priority. Geraldine Hendricken will be in action in the Golden League in Berlin this evening.

Last week she ran another personal best at 4:03.08 in Brussels.

Meanwhile Ciara Sheehy followed up on her fine performances at the European championships with a stadium record at Namur in Belgium over the weekend when she won the women’s 200m in 23.28s.