DUBLIN 2009 SENIOR WOMEN'S PREVIEW: Portuguese trio could thwart Cullen's hopes

11.12.2009

The 2009 SPAR Cross Country Championships hosts Ireland have only won one gold medal in the history of the event but there are high hopes that Mary Cullen can double that figure in Dublin on Sunday.

Cullen finished fourth at last year's championships in Brussels and also took a bronze medal over 3000m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships back in March.

"Getting a medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships has given me the confidence to believe that I can be up there with them fighting for medals," said the 27-year-old runner from Sligo, although she spends much of the year in Rhode Island on the other side of the Atlantic.

"I can't take anything for granted because medals are hard to come by. It is going to be a very tough race in Dublin. I have to be aware of what is going on around me. Ray (her coach, former Irish international Ray Treacy) is brilliant at the tactical stuff; he has studied the other athletes that I will be up against. 

"You have to have a plan A, B or C but, at the same time, you can't afford to really worry about what other people are doing. I have my own tactics and my own race to concentrate on," she added, in an interview with the Irish media earlier this week. 

Ireland's only other winner at the championships was Catherina McKiernan, who won the senior women's title at the inaugural event in 1994.

Cullen's chances of a memorable triumph in front of her home audience, with loads of fans apparently coming from Sligo to cheer her on at Santry Demesne, have increased due to the decision of Hilda Kibet not to defend her title.

The Dutch runner is still recovering from the effects of her outing at the Amsterdam Marathon in October and thinks she has not got the speed in her legs to be competitive in a Cross Country race over 8018m after focussing on 42km of road running.

Spain's 2007 champion Marta Domínguez is also absent, despite initially announcing that she was going to run in Dublin. The 2009 European Athlete of the Year has been doing the rounds of the awards ceremonies in the wake of her winning the 3000m steeplechase title at the World Championships this summer and is short of training.