Sonia O’Sullivan led the Irish women’s team to a bronze medal at the World Cross Country Championships at Leopardstown racecourse this afternoon.
The Cobh runner ran a brave race to finish seventh in the women’s short race on her return to competition after giving birth to her second daughter in Melbourne three months ago.
"The job was to be part of the team and I suppose inspire them and make sure that everyone ran well as every place counts," explained a jubilant O'Sullivan to RTEradio afterwards.
"I had to put myself in a good position from the start, then it was important to maintain it, not too far from the leaders," said O'Sullivan who said she found the middle of the race the toughest part.
Kenya’s Edith Masai improved on last year’s silver medal to win the four kilometre race in a time of 13 minutes 30 seconds, beating Werknesh Kidane of Ethopia into second with compatriot Isabella Ochichi finishing third.
Masai stretched the field by sprinting to the tape at the end of the two lap race while O’Sullivan looked tired as she crossed the line in front of the vocal home crowd.
Masai, who collected just under 38,000 euro for her win, spoke highly of O’Sullivan’s performance:
"If the championships were held one month later, I know Sonia would have got a medal, maybe even gold."
"I knew everybody in the crowd wanted Sonia to win," said Masai, speaking of the double cross country champion in 1998. "But this championship has come too soon for her.
Ethopia won the team gold, Kenya took silver but the strong collective performance from the host nation secured the bronze with 86 points, one ahead of Russia.
Ireland gained points from Anne-Keenan Buckley finishing 10th, Rosemary Ryan in 19th and Maria McCambridge's 62nd place proved vital.