ATHLETICS:DAVID GILLICK ran his first 400-metre race of the summer in Geneva on Saturday and the result brought mixed emotions. His 45.65 seconds at the Athletica Genève meeting was good enough for second place behind his training partner Martyn Rooney of Britain, but it was significantly short of the 45.23 Irish record Gillick had set at the same venue exactly a year ago.

Rooney's time was 45.19, and while Gillick ran him close, the Dubliner will want to get nearer the 45-second barrier in the coming weeks if he is to realise his ambitions at the Beijing Olympics.

"Martyn was that bit sharper than me but I've been training extremely hard and everything is geared to peak in Beijing," he said. "That will be the time to be running fast and breaking records.

"It's always good to get that first serious race of the season out of the way and I'm happy where I stand right now and I know I'm going in the right direction."

Gordon Kennedy was second in the B race in 47.06, just fractionally slower than the 47.04 the former Irish record holder Paul McKee ran in Germany.

Joanne Cuddihy could manage only fifth in 53.08, some way off her Irish record of 50.73.

Across the Atlantic, Alistair Cragg had a decent run over 5,000 metres at the New York Games to suggest he is on his way back to full health and fitness after dropping out of the World Cross Country. He finished fourth behind three Kenyans in a time of 13:25.36, victory going to Sharrack Kosgei in 13:14.46.

The Irish record holder Mark Carroll looks, however, to have lost his race to make a third Olympiad; he failed to finish in the 10,000 metres at the Nacht van de Euregio meeting in Belgium on Saturday night.

Fionnuala Britton had a disappointing run in the same meeting; her 15th-place finish in 9:52.49 over the 3,000-metre steeplechase was some 11 seconds outside her best.

David Campbell made a welcome return to racing following injury to take third in the 800 metres at the Manchester Milers Club meeting, running 1:49.43.