"New York was the most obvious choice because it's a great place to run," O'Sullivan told a news conference in Manhattan.

The 32-year-old won her only previous marathon two years ago in Dublin in two hours 35 minutes and 42 seconds after deciding to run the day before the race.

O'Sullivan, who returned to racing in March three months after the birth of her second daughter, won silver medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the European Championships in Munich in August.

O'Sullivan will join Kenyans Lornah Kiplagat and Susan Chepkemei and American Marla Runyan in one of strongest women's elite fields in the history of the 32-year-old race.

And she insisted that she had not turned her bacfk on the track, citing Britain's paula Radcilffe as an example of an athlete who excelled at both.

"If anything one of the big reasons is after seeing what Paula (Radcliffe) did this year after running (and winning) the London marathon," said O'Sullivan.

"After the marathon training she was able to come out and run better than ever on the track and I don't see why I can't do that.

"(But) I don't want to set a time for myself, I want to run faster than I ran before

"If you are competitive and involved in the race then the time will come."