Athletics: Kate expectations continue to rise

MELBOURNE - Shattering her personal best over 3000m on Thursday night wasn't the only surprise Kate McIlroy got last week.

Unbeknown to her, she also qualified for the final of the 3000m steeplechase without having to lace up her shoes. "The heat's gone. It's a straight final now," she said while weaving her way through Melbourne's CBD. "I only found out a few days ago."

It is not, she insists, a catastrophic turn of events as far as her preparations go, but something that requires some tweaking. The hit out would have been handy but it's better to lose a race than suddenly find you have to run an extra heat.

"I've done all the hard work I guess. I'm tapering off so it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

All McIlroy's focus will now turn to March 22 and the final of the 3000m steeplechase.

As far as portents go, McIlroy's performance in a flat 3000m on Thursday at Olympic Park bodes well. Her third-placed 8m 53.10s shattered her personal best by a full minute and six seconds.

The suitably gobsmacked look causes McIlroy to smile and admit she set that as a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

"But I've never run a good 3km so I'm absolutely rapt with it - stoked."

So stoked that she didn't want it to end. McIlroy had plenty left in the tank at the finish and the prospective 5000m runner got to thinking.

"It would have been interesting to go another few laps and see what sort of time I could have ran for the 5k. It would have been pretty quick, I think."

Once McIlroy, 24, had finished conquering the hills around Wellington on her way to winning the world mountain running championships last year, her thoughts turned to the 5000m and qualifying for the Commonwealth Games.

It was conceded it might be too much, too soon, so the 3000m steeples, with its soft qualifying mark of 10m 05s, was chosen instead.

McIlroy had no problem beating that standard and has a personal best of 9m 50s, set in Sydney earlier this year.

Even given her mountain running background, it's been a meteoric rise for the Wellingtonian, who has been running competitively since she was seven.

It's a rise that's surprised even herself. She could never be described as cocky but she uses phrases like "leaps and bounds" to articulate the progress she's made in the past year.

"It is basically a result of me sorting out my injuries."

McIlroy has suffered from niggles to both her Achilles tendons but is free from hassle, touch wood, for the first time in years.

"I knew I could run fast but it was a matter of being able to train consistently, being able to run every day. I can do that now and the results are coming."

McIlroy has a commerce degree from Victoria University and still works, from time to time, in a law firm in the city.

"It's nice to have that. I really enjoy doing it and having some balance," McIlroy said.

But that could be about to change.

After the Commonwealth Games she will travel to Japan for the world cross-country championships and then wants to make a full frontal assault of the European circuit from late June.

As much as she likes balance in her life, the attraction of getting paid to travel the world doing the thing she feels she was born to do is too irresistible a lure.

In Europe, McIlroy will run a mixture of 3000m steeples and 5000m races. The 5000m appeals, not just because she believes the extra distance will suit her, but because it doesn't involve infernal water jumps. The steeplechase feature jump is not, McIlroy concedes, her strong point.

"If you jump the water well you can gain a second," McIlroy said. "So I've been working on that a bit but I don't want to get too caught up in it because I don't want to be thinking too much about it during the race. I can't let it stress me out."

New Zealand Athletics high performance director Eric Hollingsworth has been working with McIlroy on her hurdling technique. It basically amounts to seeing the hurdle early, visualising the steps it will take you to clear it without breaking stride, and jumping.

"She knows the importance of hurdling in such a tight field," Hollingsworth said. "It's coming along all the time and she's such a quick learner. By the time the Games come along she'll be good to go."

Hollingsworth's faith is well placed. McIlroy has exceeded expectations with every target that has been set for her. Thursday night was another example.

"It was a really strong field with Donna MacFarlane, Mellissa Rollinson [who will run the steeplechase for Australia] and Benita Johnson.

"I'm sure she's got more in the tank, too."

MacFarlane has emerged as a favourite after winning on Thursday, in turn shattering her personal best, but aside from her and Rollinson, it's a trip into the unknown for McIlroy.

Which has not bothered her one bit up to now.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY