ATHLETICS: Sunday's Great North Run in England is set to provide Sonia O'Sullivan with the sternest possible test of her road-racing form ahead of next month's New York City marathon. The half-marathon race from Newcastle to South Shields is more closely associated with the 47,000 charity runners taking part - making it the largest race of its kind in the world - but nearer the front the organisers have also assembled a truly world-class race.
Among the list of elite women starters confirmed yesterday were the top three finishers from the World Half-Marathon championship in Brussels in May, headed by Ethiopia's world champion and race favourite Berhane Adere. Silver medallist Susan Chepkemei of Kenya is back to defend the Great North Run title she won last year.
Also on the starting list are Ethiopia's Olympic 10,000 metre champion Derartu Tulu, the two leading Australians, Susie Power and Kerryn McCann, and former London marathon winner Joyce Chepchumba. The only obvious absentee is Paula Radcliffe, who runs the Chicago marathon on Sunday week.
For O'Sullivan, then, the race will clearly provide the greatest indication of how her marathon preparations are progressing. The main focus now is the New York race on November 3rd, yet on current form she is certainly capable of pressing for victory on Sunday.
O'Sullivan's 10-mile world best of 51 minutes flat when winning the Great South Run last month puts her well on course for a sub-70 minute half-marathon, the sort of time necessary to mix it with such established opposition. Her current best of 70 minutes and four seconds, set when finishing a disappointing 14th in Brussels in May, seems certain to fall.
The Irish record of 68:54, set by Catherina McKiernan back in 1998, could also be under threat in the right conditions and the presence of Adere, who is coming off a formidable season on the track, will ensure a strong pace. She runs a sit-and-wait race, tempting those around her to push the tempo.
O'Sullivan doesn't lack experience over the 13.1 mile distance, having tasted Great North Run victory in 1998 (clocking 71:50) and then taking fourth a year later in 70:05 - just three months after giving birth to her first daughter, Ciara. With four weeks to go before New York and her first serious attempt at the marathon O'Sullivan won't be lacking the hunger for success either.
O'Sullivan's switch to the longer events on the road, however, far from marks the end of her track career: "Definitely not," she confirmed. "One of the big reasons I want to run a marathon right now is having seen what Paula Radcliffe has done on the track this summer after running the marathon in London earlier in the year. Once she went and did the marathon training she was able to come out and run better than ever on the track. I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to do that."
There is also Irish interest in tomorrow's Great North Mile, as Geraldine Hendricken takes on a similarly elite field that includes Spain's Carla Sacramento, O'Sullivan's conqueror in the European championship 5,000 metres. BBC are providing live coverage of both events.
