25th August 2003 - Paris - special to Irish Runner.com by Dave Mervyn
The next twelve months are all about international track competition for 27-year-old Cathal Lombard of Leevale AC. Ably assisted in his 2003 breaktrough by Leitrim's own mojo of distance coaching Joe Doonan, the Cork athlete last night took on the African lords of 25-lap track running and came out with something to build on, if not his desired time of sub-28 minutes.

The fastest Irishman over 10k this season thanks to his 28:05.27 in Watford, England in early July, Lombard took to the Stade de France track on 'Girl Power' night as Sweden's mercurial 20-year-old Carolina Kulft set a world leading time in taking the heptathlon gold and Kelli White of the USA, not to be outdone, notched another 2003 best with 10.85 seconds in the 100 final.

Lombard's event was sandwiched in between and credit is due to the Cork runner who failed to be totally blown away by the occasion and the Championship record pace of Ethiopia's three amigos.

The fervour of the supposed Ethiopia v Kenya battle failed to materialise as Kenenisa Bekele comfortably controlled the race and edged clear of lauded compatriot Haille Gerselassie to claim goal in a new Championship best of 26:49.57.

Whilst the top two were busy finishing under 27 minutes, Lombard was ambling through the final lap with a fragmented field, to take seventeenth place of nineteen finishers in a time of 28:36.43

The early pace was slow and Lomard looked at ease in the middle of the pack. Through the opening ten laps the lead had changed frequently with more tactics evident in the race than Nike-endorsed shoes.

Gebrselassie took it on at 4000m and spread the field with a sextet of 'neighbourly' Kenyans and Ethiopians taking residence at the top table. The artist formerly known as Kenya's Albert Chepkirui, currently answerable to Abdullah Ahmad Hassan of Qatar made a concerted effort to join them and he set an Asian record in taking fourth position./p>

Spare a thought for Atlanta Olympian Marie-McMahon Davenport who, since arriving in the French capital, has been confined to her bed with flu and failed to compete in Saturday's 10,000m final. Irish delegates gave the Marian athlete as much time as they could leading up to the race to recover, but had to declare her a non-starter barely two hours before the starter's gun.