American Dathan Ritzenhein who has already announced he will defend his Belfast International Cross Country title on Saturday 7 January 2006, has also decided to contest the VisitScotland Great Edinburgh International Cross Country the following week.

Ritzenhein, 22, beat off the challenge of three top Kenyans at this year’s Belfast race, and as decided to extend his stay over this side of ‘the pond’, and contest the Edinburgh race on Saturday 14 January which like Belfast is an IAAF Cross Country permit meeting.

In the Scottish capital, Ritzenhein will renew rivalry with Kenenisa Bekele, the Ethiopian who pushed him into third place when they clashed at the junior race at the 2001 World Cross Country Championships in Ostend.

Bekele has of course surged ahead of Ritzenhein since that contest, his career seeing him win an unprecedented four World Cross Country senior long and short race titles.

Nevertheless, 22-year-old Ritzenhein has proved himself to be one of the best distance running prospects to emerge from the USA, and is in fine form currently having won the USA 10km road race title.

However, the American will probably be one of the few praying for plenty of rain prior to both his Belfast and Edinburgh races, as both of his best ever runs across the country - Ostend and Belfast - came after persistent heavy rain turned each course into a muddy quagmire.

As well as Ritzenhein and Bekele, Zersenay Tadesse the Eritrean runner-up behind the Ethiopian star in this year's World Cross long course race, and Sergiy Lebid, Ukraine's six-times European champion, have already declared for the Edinburgh encounter.

Nicola Hedley for the IAAF