Sonia O'Sullivan set a new personal best for the marathon with an impressive showing in the London marathon over the weekend. Aiming to break two hours and 30 minutes for the first time - and proving she had some future at the distance - she came home in 2:29:01, good enough for eighth place. As expected O'Sullivan ended up running a completely different race from Paula Radcliffe, who produced yet another quite astonishing performance to win in 2:17:42 - the third-fastest women's marathon ever. Yet O'Sullivan was more than satisfied with her effort. She was more than three minutes faster than she had previously run for the distance, in New York in November of 2002, when she trailed home a distant 12th in 2:32:06, and it has reinforced her enduring belief that she is still capable of competing at the highest level. It also left her with the third-fastest time ever by an Irish woman behind Catherina McKiernan's Irish record of 2:22:23, and Carey May's 2:28:07. Significantly, her time was also some 13 minutes inside the qualifying standard for the World Championships in Helsinki next August, where she also has the option of returning to the 5,000 metres, for which she has also qualified. It appears inevitable she will run a major championship marathon before her time is finally up. O'Sullivan looked relaxed and strong throughout, and sprinted the last 100 metres to the finish along The Mall before breaking into a familiar smile of satisfaction as she glanced over her shoulder to see her time on the big clock. Afterwards she hinted she could have done better but for blisters on both feet and an unscheduled toilet stop. "The blisters were painful but I'm happy in that I felt I ran sensibly and got the best out of myself on the day," said O'Sullivan as she greeted her two daughters and partner, Nic Bideau, near the finishing area. "In New York I really tired in the last few miles but here I felt pretty strong and that is satisfying and there is no reason to doubt I can run much faster with a little better and uninterrupted preparation. "I had no problems with the distance and now I hope to run in a few of the 10k road-race series that are coming up in the coming weeks, but as far as running another marathon is concerned I have no plans at this time." O'Sullivan was due back in Dublin later today to appeal the Irish Sports Council's decision not to issue her with any grant for the coming year, and she'll clearly have added artillery with which to make her case. Meanwhile Anna Boyle continued her excellent recent form in South Africa where she ran a new PB of 11.70 to propel her to top of the European rankings and the added bonus of qualification for the European U-23 Championships over the Summer. And in the Mount Sac relays in the states Maria Davenport won the 5000m in 15.38.64, Mary Cullen took silver in the 10,000m in 32.57.61 and Joe McAllister took 9th in the 10,000m in 29.00.42.