PALO ALTO, CA - A spectacular debut performance by Amy Rudolph in the women's 10,000 metres was the biggest headline from the 10th Cardinal Invitational meeting Sunday evening (1 May) on the campus of Stanford University.

Rudolph's winning time of 31:18.96 is not only the year's fastest, but also makes her the second-fastest US exponent of the longest track event, as only American-record holder Deena Kastor (30:50.32) has run faster. Kastor's record was established three years ago at this same meeting.

"This was completely different from running on the roads," was Rudolph's initial reaction to this latest addition to her running repertoire. Amazingly, the 31-year-old had run a road 10K in Ireland only three weeks ago but was still able to recover for this splendid performance tonight.

One of Rudolph's training partners, Kim Smith of New Zealand, had moved to the lead position after nine laps as the front-running group metronomically circled Cobb Track in 75 to 76 seconds. "That's where Kim is most comfortable running," noted Rudolph. "She doesn't like to run behind anyone."

With three laps remaining, two-time Olympian Elva Dryer moved to the lead as the pace quickened, with 74- and 73-second laps presaging a quick finish.

Going into the final back stretch, Dryer began to move away, but Rudolph showed greater reserve strength and sprinted by the much more experienced runner with 200 remaining, as Smith also passed Dryer on the run-in.

For the 23-year-old Smith, whose only previous track 10,000 had been a low-key collegiate league championship competition last year, the second-place time of 31:21.00 took more than seven seconds off the eight-year-old New Zealand record of Nyla Carroll.

Dryer easily preserved third with a PB 31:21.92 as a fast finish behind her brought a total of six runners inside the Helsinki World Championships "A" standard of 31:40.00.

But the night belonged to Rudolph. "I really didn't have any time goal coming here," she admitted. "I just wanted to see what I could do. You didn't see me running in front because I didn't really know what I was doing!" she added with a laugh.

It was crucial to the competition's eventual quality that the pace remained constant, without any sudden quick lap designed to leave other runners by the wayside. "The other girls did a great job with that even pace," Rudolph said with a sense of gratitude.

In comparing the road 10km and track 10,000m, Rudolph admitted that tonight she learned that the track version "requires lots of patience, but that's what I've been working on."

Still, the evening's result did more to cloud the picture of her upcoming season than it did to solidify any goals. "Now I really don't yet know if I want to do the 5K or the 10K at nationals. The fact that the 10K in Helsinki will be a straight final does make it very appealing, though."

Training under Ray Treacy alongside Rudolph and Smith in Providence is Marie Davenport, and the Irish runner added to the group's lustre this evening with a 15:32.74 over Amy Yoder-Begley (15:34.01) in the women's 5000 metres.

Davenport held the advantage in the early stages before Yoder-Begley took over midway. But at the end, Davenport's strength carried her through to the win.

Inexperienced pace upsets intentions in men's 10,000m

On paper, the men's 10,000 metres looked to be a matchup between a pair of Japanese runners and Australian Olympian Craig Mottram.

Mottram had expressed interest in taking a crack at Shaun Creighton's national record of 27:31.92, which would require a steady barrage of 66- second rounds.

As the early laps of the race unfolded, Mottram and the others found themselves lulled into a 68 tempo by the inexperienced pacesetters. But with such a long race still ahead of them, only a real act of desperation would have suggested that the serious runners set out on their own after these opening five laps.

Mottram found himself in the lead after 4400, but he clearly was not comfortable in that position. Soon, Boaz Cheboiywo of Kenya took over, and after that it eventually was Switzerland's Christian Belz - like Rudolph, a neophyte in track 10K races - who moved crisply to the front with five laps remaining. Belz soon drew a challenge from Japan's Takayuki Matsumiya, and eventually that pair separated from the rest with two laps remaining.

Matsumiya tossed in a 62.6 on the penultimate lap, and then closed with a blazing 59.0 to post a PB 27:50.20 in winning over Belz's 27:54.11. But despite a personal best, Matsumiya was disappointed in missing the Helsinki "A" standard of 27:49.00.

""Because the pace was slow, I went to the front (in the mid-race) to pick up the pace," he later told Japanese correspondent Ken Nakamura. "I didn't really know how fast I was running (near the end of the race), but from the 5000m split I knew the World Champ "A" standard was slipping away from me. So at the end I was thinking more about winning than the fast time."

Belz's initial 10K outing brought him a national record, as he just barely slipped under the 27:54.29 run by Markus Ryffel almost twenty years ago.

Mottram was philosophical his about third-place 27:56.02. "You're always disappointed when you don't get what you planned for," said the newly-bearded 24-year-old. "But you've just got to keep moving on." He will return to his Mt Laguna training camp in the high altitude east of San Diego to prepare for the Healthy Kidney 10K race in New York's Central Park in three week's time.

The second Japanese runner, Terukazu Omori (27:56.57), and Stanford University student Ian Dobson (27:59.72) rounded out the five runners who dipped under 28 minutes.

And elsewhere in Stanford...

In the women's 1500 metres, Canada's Katie Vermeulen withstood a late challenge by Christin Wurth to win, 4:10.25 to 4:10.43, the latter time a PB.

The top men's section of the 1500 metres went to Don Sage (3:41.62) after a strong finish brought him past many runners, including Ismail Ahmed (3:41.97) and Riley Cook (3:42.07).

In the "B" section, Sydney Olympian Gabe Jennings proved that he is more than just a folk hero as he carefully calculated his stealthy crawl through the field of twelve and then outsprinted any challenger enroute to a 3:43.84 win. It was not a spectacular time compared with his top years, perhaps, but it did show that the rust in his legs may need only a few more races to be eradicated. The fire is still apparent.

The top section of the men's 5000 metres was won by Abdi Abdirahman in 13:28.57, ahead of Jonathon Riley (13:30.05) and university student Matt Tegenkamp (13:31.98). Another student, Ryan Hall, in his role of pacemaker through 3200 metres, showed remarkable strength and poise over this distance in 8:35.2 while running from the front.

Canadian Achraf Tadili opened his season splendidly with a 1:46.59 victory in the men's 800 metres, as countryman John Carle won the "B" section with 1:48.68.

Another Canadian providing a bright spot was Jennifer Joyce in the women's Hammer. The throws coach at the University of California missed her own national record by only 12 centimetres with a best of 68.10, as five of her six attempts were over 67 metres.

Also notable was the 74.35 of Sweden's Gabriel Wallin to win the men's Javelin Throw by almost ten metres.

Romania's Mircea Bogdan moved to the top of the European list in the men's Steeplechase with an 8:32.68 victory over Jacques Sallberg (8:34.91).

Lisa Galaviz produced an additional world-leading mark with her 9:50.93 in the Women's Steeplechase.