Irish team await Sonia’s distance decision

IRELAND will have just one team each in the men’s and women’s events at the world cross-country championships in Brussels next month and, while it has been more or less decided that the men will compete in the long course race, the women’s distance will depend on what Sonia O’Sullivan wants.

In 1998 Sonia O’Sullivan came back from a spell in the doldrums to win the long and short course races back to back at the world championships in Marrakech and, later that year, went on to an historic double at the European track and field championships in Budapest. Since the European championships in Edinburgh there has been a lot of speculation as to which event would be most suited to the current Irish women’s team, but it now seems certain that it will depend on what Sonia wants.

“It would be correct to say that,” Patsy McGonagle, who has been closer to the athletes than anyone else in recent years, admitted yesterday. “The fact of the matter is that we would be swayed by Sonia’s wishes.”