In a race that could be viewed by Irish eyes as a changing of the guard, Alistair Cragg won the Tyson Invitational 3,000 metres in Fayetteville, Arkansas with Mark Carroll placing third. Cragg (Clonliffe Harriers) crossed the line in 7.40.53, the second fastest time run in the world this year and inferior only to his epic win over Kenenisa Bekele in Boston a fortnight ago where he ran 7:39.89.

Carroll, who turned 33 last month, ran an impressive time of 7.46.78, a mere two seconds off his personal best of 7.44.73 set in 1999.

On the eve of Cragg's historic win in at the Reggie Lewis Centre in Boston, Carroll beat American mile-phenom Alan Webb at the same distance running 7.46.60 at the Boston University facility across Beantown. What makes Carroll's feat even more remarkable is that he's in middle of marathon training for April's Boston Marathon yet still has the wheels to run with the world's best at shorter track distances! Leevale's Carroll will join Cragg in the 3,000 at next month's European Indoor Championships in Madrid, a title he won back in 2000 in Ghent.

Cragg was running on his home track at the University of Arkansas in the same meet where a year ago he set the Irish Indoor record (7.38.59) breaking Frank O'Mara's (Also an Arkansas grad) 13-year old mark of 7.41.14. He was not about to lose in front of cheering Razorback fans.

Cragg, who won seven NCAA individual track titles under the tutelage of John McDonnell (Crossmolina, Co Mayo), took the early lead in race without a rabbit. Cragg, who will be running the European Championships in Madrid next month with the aforementioned Carroll led for the 600 metres (29.8, 60.8, 1.32.3) before he took turns with Ethiopian Markos Geneti. Geneti passed the mile mark with Cragg in tow at 4.09.2. The duo dueled for the five laps. At the beginning of the penultimate lap Cragg moved into lane two baiting Geneti to take the lead. Geneti, who turns 21 in May obliged only to have Cragg pass him on the next bend. Geneti easily shadowed Cragg's half-hearted move which appeared to more of a test. Cragg had the inside lane with 300 metres remaining, an all to familiar sight to Razorback fans who were by screaming and making hog calls for their former hero. Cragg did not disappoint covering the last 400m in 57.3 to hold off Geneti by .19.

Carroll told irishrunner.com, "Cragg is the real deal. I have no problem with taking my records. He has all the tools. He may have a tough time with my outdoor 3,000m (7.30.36) but I wouldn't be surprised if he got it."

Cragg commented on winning in front of his home crowd, "At Boston I happened to sneak a win against the greatest distance runner of all-time. You kind of have a lot of pressure to make sure you repeat that performance week after week." On how he felt during the race Cragg replied, "Markos [Geneti] and I worked together. I felt great out there. I was lucky enough to train with Markos for two weeks between Boston and now. I can't ask for anything better than more than to train with one of the greatest indoor runners."

Complete Results Tyson Invitational