Winning the NCAA cross-country championships has always been the definitive goal for any Irish athlete on scholarship in America. And also the most difficult to achieve.

On Monday in Ames, Iowa, Keith Kelly added his name to the exclusive list. Many others had tried and failed, but Kelly, a native of Drogheda and running in the colours of Providence College, became only the third Irishman to win the prestigious and highly competitive race.

After the World Cross Country championships, and maybe the Kenyan trials, this has always been known as one of the most difficult races to win. Limerick's Neil Cusack became the first Irish winner in 1972, running for East Tennessee. In 1979, John Treacy - also running for Providence College and the same year he won the World cross-country title - took second behind Kenyan great Henry Rono. The last Irish winner was South African-born Sean Dollman, the year before he competed for Ireland in the 1992 Olympics.

The likes of Mark Carroll, Niall Bruton and Richard O'Flynn were also runners-up in recent years. Sonia O'Sullivan became the only Irishwoman to win the title for Villanova in 1991.

This year's race, hosted by Iowa State University, attracted 253 of the leading collegiate runners in America - many of them from overseas and all of them coming through the difficult qualifying standards.

Light snow was blowing into the runners' faces as they crossed the finish, but that didn't bother Kelly, who is coached in Providence by Ray Treacy - younger brother of John.

"They were bitter conditions, but I think I was as confident as I could have been. I was unbeaten all year and Ray especially had filled me with confidence. I knew it was going to take a huge effort to win, and a lot of people didn't think I was up to it. But it's such an exciting feeling, especially when you look at the list of previous winners."

Most of the 10 km race was dominated by the Kenyan duo of David Kimani and Stephen Ondieki. Kimani, the defending champion and running for Alabama University, was the first to drop while Ondieki, representing Fairleigh Dickenson University, had no answer to Kelly's finishing kick as he moved from third to first in the closing strides. They don't call him the White Kenyan for nothing.

"It was a long finishing straight of about 400 metres and once I got the momentum I knew I could win. And Ray gave me a big spur at that stage as well. The crowd were going wild but I was so relieved at the finish line. I couldn't even walk.

"But looking back on the training and the work I did, I knew it was just a case of believing in myself. I haven't missed a day since last July. I was stringing together weeks of high mileage like never before and this was my last chance. I was determined to give it everything."

Last year Kelly was ninth. The year before 14th. He was Irish junior champion in 1996 before setting out for Providence and since then has been making steady progress. Now 23, it was time to make his mark.

"He was in fantastic shape," says Treacy, "and I knew it would take a very good man to beat him. It's always been one of the most difficult races to win and the standard was extremely high this year. But he trained very, very hard over the last couple of months and in some ways he goes on emotion. He wanted to win this badly."

But Kelly hasn't been doing too much celebrating around the Providence College campus. He arrives home this morning and on Sunday will run the National InterCounty cross country championships in Dungarvan.

"I can't wait for that. I'd really like to win and hopefully I can recover in time. But the next big goal is the World Cross Country in Dublin in March. I want to make that team and run well there.

"I've always had these big ambitions but people forget about you when you're in America. And I want to lose this tag of being a cross country specialist as well. The next step is to start running fast on the track."

A bonus for Kelly and Treacy was third place in the team race, helped by fellow Irish runners Dermot Galvin from Clare (20th) and Paul Reilly from Galway (64th). The team honour went to the University of Arkansas, the 11th time that they had won the title under Irish coach John McDonnell.