Sonia O'Sullivan suffered a shock defeat as she came in fourth in today's BUPA Great Ireland Run in Dublin.
O'Sullivan, running her first race of 2004, surrendered her title to last year's runner-up and Irish rival Catrina McKiernan.
McKiernan broke away after less than three kilometres of the 10km race and went on to win in a time of 33 minutes and 39 seconds.
Elana Fadeeva of Romania came second in 33mins 50secs, with Portugal's Analia Rosa third in 34:02.
McKiernan, a four-times World Cross Country silver medallist, said: "Of course I'm delighted to have won the race, but please don't read too much into Sonia's run-out today.
"The wind obviously slowed the pace and on the day I was the better runner. But remember this is just the beginning of Sonia's preparations for the Olympics and I'm sure she will quickly bounce back."
O'Sullivan, who crossed the line in 34:16, said: "I felt fine but at this stage of my training I wasn't really prepared for racing over 10k."
Australia's Craig Mottram retained his men's title with a straightforward and runaway victory in 29:11.
Mottram finished 50 seconds ahead of Victor Almeida of Portugal with Northern Ireland's Andy Graffin narrowly behind in 30:04.