special to Irish Runner.com by David Mervyn

Having finished 39th in the women's marathon yesterday morning, Belfast runner Teresa Duffy seemed disheartened with her race but pleased with other aspects of it. "I'm disappointed not to have gotten the personal best I wanted out of Edmonton. The conditions weren't too favourable but the athletes managed and I'm delighted that Lidia [Slavuteanu-Simon, Romania] has won after failing on so many previous occasions. Yeah, I expected to go under 2:40, especially after seeing the results of the men's race earlier in the week. It was tough finishing it off over the closing miles but I did it. A lot of others have struggled, so I supposed I'm pleased in a way with my performance, considering it's a major championship race. I still intend taking a year out from the marathon running though, we'll see where we are after that."

Teresa Duffy
Photo by Randy Miyazaki-Freezeit.com

The West Waterford walking supremo Jamie Costin continued to show his grit, talent and determination in the 50-kilometre walk on Saturday when finishing 28th. Having been on national record pace at the 40k mark, the 24-year-old faded to the point of exhaustion and had to find the resources to cross the finish in a credible time. "Mentally, it was extremely tough over the last few kilometres. At 40, I knew I was going well but my legs just went after that. My preparation for the Worlds was upset a bit by the food poisoning I got back in April. It has been a difficult year," proclaimed Costin, "and I was delighted to be on the start line. It's another rung on the ladder I suppose, and with the others all performing except Gillian unfortunately, we'll just go back to training and look ahead to Athens."