MARY CULLEN did not hide her disappointment after trailing home in sixth place in the women's event at the 30th Belfast International CrossCountry at Stormont Estate yesterday.

Mary and her fellow Irish competitors did not learn anything they did not know already in that the Africans are just about unbeatable in this type of running as they swept the boards in both international races.

"You just cannot hide from them and the only way you will get better is by taking them on in races like this, " said Mark Kenneally, after the Clonliffe Harriers runner finished 9th in the men's event, one place behind Gary Murray from Donegal.

Both men were just short of two minutes behind a squad of flying Africans up front, the winner being Moses Kipriso of Uganda with Fabiano Joseph from Tanzania second and Kenya's Patrick Makau pushing the 17-yearold Ethiopian sensation, Ibrahim Jelian, into fourth place after a world class race.

As for Cullen, she came to Stormont with every hope of putting a couple of indifferent recent performances behind her. But in the end, the 24year-old ran out of steam in the crucial last lap while up front the two Ethiopian world stars, Etalemehu Kidane and Teyiba Erkesso, just seemed to get faster and faster.

The 23-year-old Kidane completed her hat-trick of victories with sheer brilliance, striding home as if it was the end of a training session and beating Erkesso by four seconds in 19 minutes and 29 seconds. Kenya's Mary Wacera was a further 11 seconds back in third with Cullen crossing the line in 20:02, clearly looking as if she had given her all.

But there were no smiles from the Providence College graduate. "I just did not feel good and have not done so since the European crosscountry, " said the Sligo runner. "I can't put my finger on the reasons why. It was the same again today and it was a struggle out there, especially in the second half of the race. It's disappointing because I know I'm better than that."

Cullen came into the winter season on the back of a rewarding summer track campaign when she won the NCAA 5,000m and made it to Gothenburg for the Europeans. "The Europeans was an average run, " she said. "It was not great again today. I just could not get going like I would have expected. I was up there with them for halfway but then when the leaders broke away I found myself on my own and just could not seem to be able to pick up the pace and stuck a bit in no-man's land which was disappointing.

"The girls that won it are the best in the world and there can be no arguments about that, but I felt I could have been up there with the English runner, Kate Reed, but she got away from me too." Reed, who was four places behind Cullen in 18th place in the Europeans, came home in 4th place.

Cullen mixed it up front with Kidane and Erkesso and was actually forcing the pace in front at the end of the first lap. She then battled on over the second half and was still fourth behind the two Ethiopians and Reed going into the final circuit.

But then she faded while the three Africans speeded things up further with Reed managing to just about keep in touch.

Cullen admitted that her career is now at a crossroads in that she has graduated from Providence College and will have to fend for herself.

She now hopes to achieve the qualifying standard in the 5,000m for the World Championships in Osaka in August.

Murray and Kenneally never got in a blow at the leaders but that was not surprising as the front runners started like sprinters and by the end of the first lap, Joseph, Makau, Kipriso and Jellan were already clear of everyone. After that it was just a question of which would prove the stronger and Kipriso came home just like he started, like a sprinter.

One of the most impressive winners was England's Lee Carey in the junior men's event, coming home 34 seconds ahead of Ieuan Thomas from Wales.

Running strongly in the last lap to take third was John Coghlan, the lanky son of our former world 5,000m champion, Eamonn Coghlan. John has been impressive in schools' 1,500m over the last couple of years and the 18-