Sonia’s fairytale ends in New York

SONIA O’SULLIVAN’S fairytale of New York evaporated painfully on the mean marathon streets of the Big Apple yesterday as the Olympic 5000 metres silver medallist struggled across the finishing line in 12th position.

After clocking a slow time of two hours 32 minutes and six seconds O’Sullivan admitted her appetite for marathons has disappeared.

Experience, or a lack of, ultimately proved her undoing in her first race of this magnitude. O’Sullivan, who looked impressive in the early stages, simply had no answer to the skills and patience of eventual winner Joyce Chepchumba of Kenya who broke all of her rivals at 22 miles and won in 2:25:56. By then O’Sullivan was a spent force having fallen out of contention at 16 miles.

“My legs were getting stiff as I’m not used to running that slow, even when training,’’ said O’Sullivan, heeding advice she should not go off too quickly.

‘‘I suppose inexperience did come into it. Now I’m thinking I should have gone off and run my own race. With hindsight, knowing what pace I can run at, I should have gone off much quicker, but everyone had been telling me to take things slowly in the first half of the race.

However, her Irish compatriot, Mark Carroll produced a stunning performance to finish sixth in the men’s race in a spectacular debut time of 2:10:54 behind Kenyan winner Rodgers Rop, who became only the fourth runner ever to win Boston and New York marathons.

“It was good,” Carroll said. “In fact I felt very good until 1st Avenue and then the move was made. There was a bit of a headwind there. I felt it right in the middle of my ribcage. I just felt caught for breath and I just tried to relax and maintain my rhythm. That is basically all I did for the last 10 miles.

“Then I hit the last five miles and that is definitely the hardest part. Those hills just kept coming thick and fast and you were wondering if it would ever end.

“I think that, without those to contend with, I will run 2:07 on a flat course in Europe.”

Rop beat countrymen Laban Kipkemboi and Christopher Cheboiboch into second and third as Kenya confirmed its distance pedigree.

The leading American woman was Marla Runyan, the first legally blind Olympian, who was attempting a marathon for the first time.