THE recently crowned national cross country champion, John Downes, is on a collision course with BLE following his decision to contest last Saturday's English test at Newark, where he finished fourth, some 40 seconds behind the winner.
Following his victory in Santry last Sunday week, Downes (28), in common with all those who have been selected for the world cross country championships in Cape Town later this month, was advised not to compete at distances above 8 km for men, and 5 km for women, so that they would be fully prepared for the task.
Downes, however, chose not to regard that advise and competed in the English tests over a demanding 14 km course, despite the recommendations from the selectors, who included the director of coaching.
"The conditions of selection were clearly written in the selection letter," Chris Wall, BLE's international secretary, said yesterday. "And they were that athletes should not run in races above designated distances between the date of selection and the date of the world cross country.
"John Downes did write stating that it was part of his plan to race in the English nationals, and the reply reminded him of the selectors' recommendations," Wall said. "The matter was also brought to last Friday's management committee meeting and it was the unanimous decision of the committee that the selectors' recommendation should stand. It was a difficult decision for the committee to make. John was notified of this decision by fax before 10 o'clock that night.
"John automatically renders himself out of the team by running in the race, and the same would apply to any athlete who disregarded the advice," said Wall.
Speaking from his London home yesterday, Downes said he was awaiting clarification on the situation. "The English national was always part of my plan for the last six months. I know what is right for me. The notification just five days before the race is just too short.
"I believe in my own recovery and my preparation is right for me. I did not race for a month and went to Portugal to train and get the speed in my legs and be fresh for the Irish and English national cross country championships.
"On Saturday I did not run great, as I had a pain in my chest after four minutes and I feel I only half ran the race," Downes said.
Interestingly, the British selectors decided several years ago that the 14 km distance of their national test is too demanding if athletes are too be fully recovered for the worlds. Instead, they initiated a selection race over 12 km which this year was held on the same day as the Irish nationals.
Indeed, the current British team manager, Dave Clarke, who won three English nationals and competed in the worlds, believes the English test is not an ideal preparation for the hardest race of an athlete's life.
On a more positive note, Dublin born Eugene Farrell became the 18th athlete to achieve the Olympic standard when he returned a time of 46.34 seconds' for 400 metres in the semi final of the Australian championships. He recorded 46.76 seconds in the final.
The former time is inside the B standard. But Brisbane based Farrell may not get the nod, as Brian Crossman and Tom McGuirk would also have realistic hopes of achieving the standard before the cut off date.
