special to Irish Runner.com by Eoghan Young-Murphy and Tim O'Dowd

Mark Carroll vowed to bounce back from his disappointing performance in the New York marathon on Sunday, in which he not only failed to fulfill his aspiration of landing the Irish record for the distance, he also was unable to complete his second consecutive attempt at the classic distance. A hip injury forced him to withdraw shortly after the half-way mark.

Until then, he was looking comfortable - he was running at the front of the pack as they reached the 13.2-mile point in 1:04:57 minutes - but soon his race unraveled, in a similar manner to that when he last year called time of his London Marathon attempt at the 20-mile mark.

Speaking in New York on Sunday night, Carroll admitted his intense disappointing with his race but steadfastly refused to contemplate thoughts of retirement. He plans on making another assault on the distance next spring, most likely in London or Paris in April.

It was a day of chagrin too for Raheny Shamrock's Vinny Mulvey; he also failed to finish. Mulvey told Irish Runner.com, "I got to 20 [miles] fine,then my legs just went on me just before 21 and I stopped at 21. I underestimated the course and also the distance, but I've gotten a lot of positives out of it and have learned loads from it. I now know how I have to train for the distance." Mulvey is still undecided as to whether, as he had previously intended, to contest the upcoming National Inter-County Cross Country Championships in Sligo.

After the race, Mulvey talked with Welshman Steve Jones, World Marathon Champion and winner of New York, Chicago and London marathons in the 1980's about specialized marathon training. Mulvey, whose lactic acid still courses through his veins, is already excited about making the marathon his primary focus in running.

The news emanating from New York wasn't all melancholy: Marie Davenport made a solid debut in the women's race; she clocked 2:33:59, not too far outside her pre-race target of 2:32. Davenport placed 16th overall.

Her showing catapults her up to fifth in the Irish all-time list and, as she is still just 30, this performance could be the launch pad to a fine international marathon career. No standards are being set for the European Championships next summer - it is up to Athletics Ireland to choose how many athletes they send - but Davenport is most certainly in the running for selection if she wants to abandon the track for the roads.

Marie Davenport told Lori Riley of the Hartford Courant, "I never felt right from the start," she said. "I had some stomach cramps and some issues with that around mile 20. At mile 16, my water bottle was gone. Somebody else took it. It wasn't that bad. I learned a lot. I don't know if I would pick that course again for the first one out. I got through it in one piece. I'm excited to go back to the distance again."

2005 ING New York City Marathon website