David Gillick, Ireland's two-time European Indoor 400m champion will defend his title in Turin in a week's time.

The Loughborough-based DSD star will have high hopes of reproducing the fireworks that lit up Madrid and Birmingham in the last two European Indoors.

Just as he did before Birmingham two years ago, Gillick has only raced once indoors this season, when his 46.18 seconds in Dussledorf was a world-leading time.

Only four men have run faster since, just two of them from Europe and only one of them -- Italy's Claudio Licciardello, whom Gillick beat in Dussledorf -- is competing in Turin.

Sprinters Ailis McSweeney and Niamh Whelan, David McCarthy (800m) and Leevale's Jessica Zebo (4x400m) have also been added to the Irish team for Italy, which already includes Paul Hession, Derval O'Rourke and Mary Cullen.

Back at home, a welcome blast from the past is bound to attract massive attention when he competes in his first Woodies DIY National Inter-Club Cross-Country Championships in Santry Demesne on Sunday.

Keith Kelly famously won the NCAA Division 1 cross-country title for Providence College in 2000 and has raced internationally for Ireland yet has never before run in the blue riband of the domestic cross-country season.

Kelly's promising distance career was, sadly, derailed by a series of dreadful injuries, including nine separate stress fractures and a burst appendix, but the US-based athlete was the first Irishman home (fourth) in Ras na hEireann last week and, at 31, the Drogheda man's debut at the cross-country 'nationals' will be greeted with equal measures of delight and trepidation from his home rivals.

A year ago the sight of former banned athlete Cathal Lombard (Leevale) returning to emphatically beat Alistair Cragg and win caused sensation. But with neither involved this season it will be former champions Gary Murray, Vinny Mulvey and this season's inter-county champion Alan McCormack (DSD) and runner-up Mark Christie that will be Kelly's main opposition.

The defending senior women's champion, Fionnuala Britton, is also out (just back training after a 14-week injury layoff) and her Sli Cualann team-mate Deirdre Byrne is concentrating on indoors, which means the reigning inter-county champion Linda Byrne, third last year and the women's winner in Ras na hEireann, will be favourite for the other senior title.

The action starts with the junior women's race at 1pm, followed by junior men (1.40) and the senior races at 2.35 (women) and 3.15 (men) respectively.