Mark Carroll put his Olympic disappointment behind him yesterday by winning the Thanksgiving Day road race in Manchester, Connecticut - one of the top road races in America.
A tight finish to the 4.75-mile race saw Carroll edge out Janko Bensa of Yugoslavia by a single second to cross the line in 21 minutes 49 seconds. Mohamad Amyn of Morocco was another second back in third place.
"It was extremely cold," said the Cork runner, "and that made it a little more tactical than previous years. There were about eight of us together at the last mile, but I was happy with my kick at the finish."
A previous winner in 1998 and second last year, Carroll also left a number of top Africans in his wake in what was his first race since being eliminated in the heats of the Olympic 5,000 metres.
Donal O'Sullivan was the next Irish finisher in 15th place (23.25), beating many of the top Americans in what was a record field of just over 14,000 runners. Carroll's next race will be the Ras na hEireann on January 7th.
