Until yesterday, the Women's Mini Marathon was more about charity fun running than world class times. Enter Sonia O'Sullivan. Victory through the streets of Dublin in 31 minutes 28 seconds improved the 10 kilometre course record by over a minute and offered yet further indication of her return to top form.

The time may have been somewhat less exceptional than the 30:59 she ran in Milan last month, but it was another extremely relaxed and assured display. Only Kenya's Magdaline Chemjor - an accomplished performer - managed to stay with O'Sullivan in the early stages, but well before half-way the Cork woman was on her own.

"I'm feeling great," she said afterwards. "It wasn't really the intention to go for the time. My coach just said to see how I feel and if I feel good then keep going and enjoy it. That's exactly what I did."

O'Sullivan couldn't resist the temptation to test her finishing kick approaching St Stephen's Green, and while she appeared to be running well within herself throughout the race, she still managed to take a minute and three seconds off Catherina McKiernan's previous course record.

"I was thinking: `under 31:30, that sounds nice.' I still have a lot to learn about the 10k, but races like this certainly help. It may be a fun event here today but it's still very useful and you'll always learn something from it."

Chemjor eventually finished a distant second - a minute and 15 seconds behind - while Dublin's Maria McCambridge also ran well to take third in 34:08. For O'Sullivan, however, it's the perfect end to her brief road-racing stint.

Not that there is any lack of fitness. After passing three kilometres in 9:12, O'Sullivan then pulled away from Chemjor in a matter of metres and, reaching half-way in 15:56, she kept her flowing stride until the end to lay down the benchmark for the future.