From an Irish viewpoint, the Air Force Millrose Games at Madison square Garden on Friday night will attract a lot of attention, with Mark Carroll – having won the 3,000m event for the past three years – moving down in distance to the mile. Over the years the mile has been almost the sole preserve of Irish athletes, with Eamon Coghlan and Marcus O’Sullivan dominating the race. After a 3:54 mile a few weeks ago Mark followed up with a 3:57 win, racing on his own for much of the way. Last weekend he was back on track again, this time he dropped in distance again, tackling the 800m. And the result was a superb personal best time as he broke the 1:50 barrier for the first time ever. Mark’s competitive instinct knows no bounds, he’s one of those runners who never gives in, never knows when he’s beaten. And on this occasion he had to pull out all the stops to win the race, clocking 1:48.21, just ahead of American Ned Brooks who clocked 1:48.63. Right now everything is moving like clockwork towards the European indoor championships at the end of the month where he is set to tackle the 3,000. Defeat there is simply out of the question. At the same meet at the weekend Carroll’s training partner, and former Leevale runner, Ken Nason had an excellent result in the mile where he finished fifth in a time of 4:01.97. Neville Davey was third in 4:01.11. In section 2 of the mile Leevale’s David Brosnan was a worthy winner in a time of 4:10.32. Dermot Galvin from Clare clocked 8:13.93 in the 3,000m, with Paul Reilly in 8;23.31. Keith Kelly was 11th in the 5,000m with 14:09.44, with Vinny Mulvey clocking 14:14.00, and Ciaran Lynch 14:43.51.