Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania takes victory in Edinburgh (© Mark Shearman)
The 2005 World Half Marathon champion Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania heads the contenders for the 30th running of the Belfast Cross Country International - IAAF Permit - on Saturday (6).
Joseph, one of the world’s leading distance runners, hopes to join a stellar cast of former winners of the race including Paul Tergat, Khalid Skah and Steve Cram as he bids to go one better than when he placed second at the Stormont Estate venue in 2004.
The 21-year-old Tanzanian has pedigree over the country, finishing seventh in the 2004 World Cross Country Championships in Brussels, and will be keen to claim top spot in Belfast.
Leading the challengers will be Moses Kipsiro, the man who finished runner-up in last year’s race. The Ugandan is bang in form and won the annual New Year’s Eve race over 8km in Trier in a swift 22:27 to suggest he will pose a major threat.
The 2006 IAAF World junior 10,000m champion Ibrahim Jelien Gashu, 17, is the latest emerging star from the seemingly endless production line of talent in Ethiopia. The former runner-up in the Great Ethiopian Run will look to build on his outstanding 2006 in which he recorded a staggering 27:02.81 time in Brussels.
A powerful African quartet is completed by Ethiopia’s Tedessa Tola who finished third in the pre-Christmas IAAF permit event in Brussels behind Kenya’s Bernard Chepkok. British-based Kenyans Jean Ndayasenga and Patrick Mkau – the latter the world No.2 in 2006 for 25km will also have to be watched.
Leading the European bid is Lithuania’s Mindi Pukstas, a former winner of the Istanbul Marathon who finished fifth in the BUPA Great South Run in England in October. Former European under-23 5000m gold medallist Chris Thompson is likely to be the main hope from Great Britain.
Strong Ethiopian line-up in women’s race
Ethiopian women swept the podium in this race 12 months ago and once again they will be the nation to beat. Ethalemu Kidane loves the Belfast mud and she bids for a third successive victory in the race as she begins her preparations for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships which take place in Mombasa in March.
She faces tough opposition, however, from compatriot Teyiba Erkesso who battled to a narrow victory to the Lotto Cross Cup race in Brussels last month.
The 2006 world junior 5000m bronze medallist Mary Wacera of Kenya hopes to show the same aptitude for the country she has shown on the track and her countrywoman Cathy Mutwa, a bronze medallist in the 2006 Kenyan Armed Forces Championships, is another to be watched.
The Africans may not have matters all their own way in Belfast with runaway European under-23 cross country champion Binnaz Uslu aiming to build on that success. The Turk, who also won the European under-23 5000m title in 2005, will be hoping to step up another level to compete with the best talent globally.
Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton runner-up behind Uslu in at the European Cross Country Championships last month is also a major challenger.
Steve Landells for the IAAF
