Cragg and Carroll Impress in Arkansas 3000m

12 February 2005

Alistair Cragg (Clonliffe Harriers) continued his recent excellent indoor form with another 3000m victory at the Tyson Invitational meeting in Arkansas.

The Irishman, who recently defeated Olympic 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele in Boston, stormed to another success on the third stage of this year's USA Track and Field Visa Championship series.

But it was a close call for US-based Cragg, who just held off Bekele's Ethiopian colleague Markos Geneti by only 0.19 seconds.

Mark Carroll (Leevale) ran his second 7:46 of the indoor season finishing a strong 3rd and solidifying the duos status as the number 1 and 2 3000m runners in Europe for 2005.

Cragg, who heads the world indoor 3000m ranking lists this season, and Carroll, the 2000 European Indoor Champion, will spearhead the Irish challenge for medals at the European Indoor Championships in Madrid next month.