ATHLETICS GREAT IRISH RUN: COURAGEOUS EFFORTS from Mary Cullen and Martin Fagan fell just short of making it an Irish double in yesterday's Great Ireland Run, which drew a record 10,000 starters to the Phoenix Park.

Fagan has been setting Irish records on the roads recently but found himself chasing down Rui Pedro Silva of Portugal and the illustrious Paul Tergat of Kenya at the end of a true-run 10km race. But he just could not reel them in and in the end had to be satisfied with third place.

Silva won in 28:45, with just four seconds covering the first four, as the top-ranked American, Andrew Carlson, finished behind Fagan in 28:48.

Carlson did much of the early running before Fagan threw down the gauntlet in a strong bid to break up the field.

"I was never feeling good, even in the early stages," admitted Fagan. "I was never running in the same way that I've been in recent months and there was nothing in my legs today.

"So it was a struggle, but I've had this problem in my groin recently and must get some medical treatment, as I want to get the qualifying standard to run the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in August."

There were creditable efforts from other Irish runners, Vinney Mulvey and Mark Kenneally, in finishing fifth and sixth.

Sally Barsosia of Kenya did the front-running in the women's elite race before Ana Dulce Felix of Portugal took over, going on to win in 32:18, with Cullen giving chase all the way in second place.

The break came at 8kms and Cullen seemed unable to keep pace with her, but she launched a big charge to pull clear of Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia to nail down second in 32:25.

"I realised at 9kms the gap was opening and when I decided to do something about it she was gone too far clear," said Cullen.

Meanwhile, Maria McCambridge had mixed feelings despite running a lifetime best of 2:35.26 in the Paris marathon yesterday.

This was a minute and six seconds faster than she ran when taking the Irish title in the Dublin marathon last October, but it still left her 26 seconds short of the target she was chasing in the hope of getting to compete in the World Championships.