Turnbull, the World Student Games 1500m silver medallist patiently followed Ben Whitby for the first two laps on the Newcastle's Exhibition Park course. Turnbull made a break with British star John Mayock able to respond. With 400 metres remaining Turnbull pulled away from Mayock to win in 11.28. St Malachy's teammate Joe McAllister placed 16th in 12:09.

Anne Keenan Buckley (North Laois AC) ran a brilliant race. She placed fifth running 21.02 on the 6.2 kilometre course finishing only 18 seconds behind winner Susan Chepkemei of Kenya.

Dublin City Harrier Una English placed second at the Peurbach Silvesterlauf cross-country meeting held in Peurbach, Austria on 31st December. English covered the 5.1 kilometre course in 16.44, six seconds behind winner Aniko Kalovics of Hungary.

Leevale's Fiachra Lombard placed 26th at the Iris Crosscup meeting held in Brussels, Belgium on 23rd December. Sergei Lebed from the Ukraine won the race in 33.12.

On the women's side, freshmen Róisín Quinn from Waterford finished first in the 500-meter run, with a time of 1:16.1. Deirdre Byrne (Avoca, Co. Wicklow) took first place in the 1,000-meter run, in a time of 2:45.6. Kathryn Casserly from Galway won the mile in 4:55.5 with Mary Cullen from Sligo finishing third in 5:02.7.

The Christmas period was a busy one for runners with numerous road races taking place throughout the province. In the Cork area there were three excellent races held. Belgooly Athletic Club got proceedings off to a flying start on St. Stephen's Day with their annual four-mile road race. By halfway Robert Heffernan of Togher had broken clear and ran on strongly to win easily in a respectable 19:30 (4.52 mile pace). Chasing him home was American Lee Willis, whose wife Breeda Dennehy Willis from Bandon had a clear win in the women's race from Valerie Vaughan of Blarney Inniscarra. Interested spectators at the race included Mark Carroll and Martin McCarthy, both sporting injury problems.

Judging by the turnout at the annual Newmarket to Kanturk road race, which was organised by Duhallow athletic club, more than a few believed that this race was an easy touch! However, it turned out to be the classiest race of all. Icy road conditions threatened the event, but the organisors worked hard to ensure it went ahead. A battle between Irish international runners followed with Dundrum South Dublin's Noel Berkeley, unbeaten in road races in the Cork area since he moved to Midleton from Dublin last year, proving best. His time of 22:57 for the five miles was eight seconds faster than Leevale's Fiachra Lombard who finished 26th in the big Brussels cross-country race two days before Christmas. Following him home in the Duhallow race was John Downes from London Irish, followed by William Harty, Cathal Lombard, and Phillip Harty. Michelle Scott was an easy winner of the women's race.