Debrecen, Hungary - In Hungarian, “Tegla” means “brick”; in the language of athletics it means outstanding performances in long distance running and it has also stood now for a few months as the name of an 'IAAF Ambassador', when talking about Tegla Loroupe (KEN).

Looking back at Loroupe’s long illustrious career, which on two occasions saw her run the fastest marathon times ever by a woman (2:20:47, 1998, and 2:20:43, 1999), there have been countless occasions when the tiny Kenyan runner has illustrated that she is competitively as tough as a brick. Above all when struggling against food poisoning at the 2000 Olympics she bravely battled-on to finish thirteenth in the marathon and fifth in 10,000m.

On Thursday (20 July) last week, in her role as IAAF Ambassador, Loroupe travelled to Hungary, firstly to the capital Budapest and then finally to Debrecen, the city that will host the inaugural edition of the IAAF World Road Running Championships on 8 October 2006. There she met Aniko Kalovics, the 29-year-old Hungarian runner who will lead the Hungarian women’s team to compete in Debrecen in the autumn.

Both runners were there to inaugurate the 5km long course which will be run as a 4-time loop (20km) during the World Road Running Championships, and they got a first taste of the enthusiasm for road running in Debrecen when more than 120 local runners accompanied them around the 5km route despite this being holiday time and the weather producing 35 degrees of blistering heat. All who ran were equipped with blue T-Shirts on which the images of Tegla and Aniko were printed and signed by both athletes.

Loroupe, who won this IAAF World Athletics Series event on three occasions (1997, 1998, 1999) in its previous incarnation as the World Half Marathon Championships, was very positive about the 5km route.

“The course is very nice, very flat with broad turns. I believe that outstanding times can be achieved here during the World Road Running Championships.”

Kalovics, a two-time Olympian confirmed that the Championships will be the highlight of her season.

"It will be exciting to run at home, in my own country, and I hope that this event will make road running in Hungary even more popular.”

For Kalovics, the Championships will be a double test. “I will run against the best and world class African runners and hope to be able to be among the top-ten and the best European. But at the same time it will also be a test for my first marathon in Carpi, Italy in the autumn.”

In between TV interviews, signing autographs and posing for pictures with the fans from Debrecen, Loroupe found time to advise Kalovics on how to approach her marathon debut and also the 20km race in Debrecen.

“Running a marathon, especially when having been a 10,000m runner coming from the track, it is important to be patient, to find your own rhythm and to let the others do the work. The first 20km will feel so slow having been a track runner, but be disciplined, because if you over pace just for 5km, you have to pay it back twice at the end.”

“Well, it is a slightly different game for the 20km at the World Road Running Championships. Rhythm and discipline will be important as well, but here you have to push it from the first metre on and always stay with the group. Good luck, Aniko!”

In fact, good luck to all the runners on 8 October, and of course to the principal debutant of that day, the 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships.

Alexandra Knocke for the IAAF