Lombard leaves nothing to chance

IT may be his first major assignment, but Cathal Lombard is approaching tomorrow’s 10,000m final at the world championships in Paris with a level of professionalism that has left nothing to chance.

The Dublin-based Cork athlete will not arrive in Paris until this afternoon - that was planned all along.

Doonan, who coached Catherina McKiernan to her sensational performances in both cross-country and the marathon, is never one to take any chances where his athletes are concerned. “We decided that I should get a hotel with air conditioned rooms as close as possible to the Athletes Village and, fortunately; I was able to do that.” So far it has been a sensational season for the man once regarded as something of a mudlark. But that all changed when he met up with