Carroll misses plane but makes the grade

MARK CARROLL had a new spring in his step when he went training at the UCC complex at the Mardyke yesterday morning having received confirmation from the AAI that he had been selected for the European championships.

The Corkman was to have competed in Belgium on Saturday to prove his current well-being by running the qualifying standard , at least which, at least by his standards, would be a modest run (13:30) given the right conditions.

As it turned out conditions were far from ideal in Deusden where athletes were lashed by rains driven by gale force winds, but he never got to the line. In fact, he never got to the venue. His flight out of Cork was delayed and he missed the connection at Stansted.