ATHLETICS/Belfast International Cross Country: There's no easing back into the fast lane for Alistair Cragg. After almost 10 months without a competitive race he went to the Belfast International Cross Country on Saturday and found out the hard way distance running is still the most honest test of fitness.

Cragg's long exile from high-level racing soon revealed itself around the five laps of Stormont Estate: his sixth place finish had all the signs of such a disappearance. He started out loaded with enthusiasm but succumbed to all the haunts of a lay-off - a lack of strength and pace, but also a lack of confidence.

"I was sitting around for four months of the summer doing nothing," he said afterwards, "and I think I lost some of the fire there, and some of the fight. I was hoping to get some of that back today, but I was a little soft again. But I know it's still in me."

Cragg was honest in assessing his performance. He had towed a group of six around the first lap, but when last year's winner, Dathan Ritzenhein, injected the first surge Cragg was cut off. The American continued to press the pace only to lose out to two fast-finishing Africans - Barnabas Kosgei of Kenya winning in 28:05, one second ahead of Moses Kipsiro of Uganda.

It was over a minute later before Cragg finished in 29:09. It wasn't the end of the world considering the serious back injury that had halted his career since winning the European Indoor 3,000 metres 10 months ago, yet Cragg seemed to see it that way.

"It got embarrassing to be out there," he added. "I needed a much stronger run than that. My legs were dead, I'd a hard time breathing, and my left hamstring was tight. Once they got a little gap on me my head just went. I thought I was in very good shape but I'm definitely doubting that now. I'm a little shell-shocked actually."

It was only his third run on Irish soil. The consolation is that his comeback is under way. The world indoors and world cross country are looming in the months ahead, but Cragg's definitive goal for 2006 is the European Championships in Gothenburg next August.

There was talk he'd race again in Edinburgh next Saturday, but instead he headed straight back to his US base at Arkansas, and is now eyeing up an indoor 3,000 metres race in Boston at the end of the month. "Well I've a lot more work to do that, I thought. But this is all just preparation for August. I am feeling down about things but there's still a long way to go. I've been waiting to get into a race like this for a long time, and maybe the waiting got to me, because I definitely crumbled."

There was a far more satisfying performance from Mary Cullen in the women's race. The Sligo athlete, who attends Providence College in the US, took the challenge to an African trio for the first two laps, and while she eventually lost out to their finishing speed, her fourth-place finish was both rewarding and encouraging.

Last year's winner Ethalemu Kidane of Ethiopia out-kicked Deribe Alemu for victory, but for Cullen the journey to Belfast was worth while. "Hopefully I can build on this all the way to the Europeans next summer," she said.