Reigning World Champions contest Great North Run

Paula Radcliffe’s twoyearold course record of 67:07 could come under threat in Sunday’s BUPA Great North Run in Newcastle, England, with all three women's medallists from this year’s IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in action.

Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere took the world title in Brussels and will be looking to continue an outstanding year that also saw her become the first woman to break the 8:30 barrier indoors for 3,000m, when setting an world indoor record of 8:29.15 in Stuttgart bettering Romania's Gabriela Szabo's 8:32.88.

More recently Adere also beat the Romanian on the line to win the 3,000m at the IAAF World Cup in Madrid, so it just remains to be seen whether her endurance is as good as her speed. She will probably have to run faster than her personal best of 68:17 to win on Tyneside, with the world’s fastest half-marathoner, Kenya’s Susan Chepkemei, also in action.

The Kenyan was second to Adere in Brussels but has a best of 65:44 from Lisbon two years ago and has already triumphed in the Great North Run, out-sprinting Joyce Chepchumba and Derartu Tulu last year. However, it is six years since a woman recorded back-to-back victories in the event when Liz McColgan did so and Chepkemei faces a stiff task.

Jelena Prokopcuka completes the trio of medallists from May but more serious rivals are likely to be twice Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia, South Africa’s 1994 World Half Marathon winner Elana Meyer and Ireland’s double European distance silver medallist Sonia O’Sullivan. The latter has requested a pace of 32 minutes for the opening 10km and Yelena Burykina has been employed as a pacemaker.

O’Sullivan, who won the Great North Run on her Half Marathon debut in 1998, set European bests for 5km (14:56) and 10 miles (51:00) last month - also a world best until Lornah Kiplagat ran 50:54 two weeks later. The Irish star will be looking for another confidence-boosting display as she prepares for her first serious marathon in New York next month.

Meyer admits she is not in peak form at the moment and will not contest another Marathon this year, but she is a totally different proposition at the Half Marathon and her front-running style may play a big part in the bid for a sub-67 minute time – which would smash time the fastest in the world so far this year, Mizuki Noguchi’s 68:22.

Chepchumba, the 1999 victor, is another serious contender and has an excellent record in British distance races. She has won the London Marathon twice and earlier this year won the Great Scottish Run for the fourth time.

Australian duo Kerryn McCann and Susie Power, plus 1996 Olympic 10,000m champion Fernanda Ribeiro give further quality in depth, although the competitors in the men’s field will have no intention of playing second fiddle to the women.

Former Commonwealth 1500m champion Peter Elliott, who puts together the elite field, is hopeful that the men’s race will produce the first sub-60 minute time ever seen in Britain. Even with the withdrawal of Commonwealth Marathon champion Francis Naali there is a strong enough field, including World Half Marathon champion Paul Kosgei.

Kosgei made a winning Half Marathon debut in Brussels and will attempt to remain unbeaten both at the distance and in UK road races, having run 28:23 to win the recent Nike 10km in London.

Boston Marathon champion Rogers Rop is another looking to keep up the great Kenyan tradition in the race, as is John Mutai who enjoyed the biggest success of his career when winning the event in 1999. Although not as big a name as some of his rivals, Mutai has been on the podium in each of the last four years.

Tanzanian John Yuda – a medallist in the last three IAAF World Championships (two at the half-marathon and one at cross country) – will be a major threat to any Kenyan challenge.

The last European victor in the men’s race was Irishman John Treacy in 1988, but the addition of Portugal’s Antonio Pinto to the elite field could be significant. The holder of the European best for the Marathon has been a major disappointment on his last two visits to the Great North Run, so it may be a case of third time lucky. Italy’s 1996 World Half Marathon champion Stefano Baldini, and Spain’s Fabian Roncero are the other leading athletes hoping to mount a European challenge.

Kenya’s Robert Cheruiyot is the fastest in the world this year with 60:06 but Elliott hopes Sunday’s field can better that, Benson Masya’s course record of 60:02 and the one-hour barrier.

However, one of the most eagerly-awaited clashes of the weekend comes tomorrow, when Kelly Holmes renews her rivalry with Jolanda Ceplak in the BUPA Great North Mile race. European champion and World Cup winner Sureyya Ayhan, Martha Dominguez and Tatyana Tomashova are also major contenders, while the men’s mile event sees Reyes Estevez and Rui Silva taking on a strong domestic line-up that includes John Mayock, Michael East, Anthony Whiteman, Andrew Graffin and James McIlroy.