RTE Sport: Friday, 28 March 2008 16:40 The Irish team were in a positive mood today despite two withdrawals ahead of this weekend’s World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh. The team of 21 flew out to the Scottish capital this afternoon, ahead of Sunday’s event.
Keith Kelly has had to withdraw from the team due to injury, while Maria McCambridge will be absent as she has decided to concentrate on the European 10K Challenge in Istanbul in a couple of weeks. McCambridge is replaced in the squad by Raheny’s Annette Kealey.
The team will feature some of Ireland’s top long distance runners including Alistair Cragg, Vinny Mulvey and Fionnuala Britton. There will also be some talented young runners competing in the junior events with the likes of Michael Mulhare from North Laois, Togher’s Craig Murphy and Sara Louise Treacy from Moynalvey/Kilcoon all hoping to perform well.
Speaking at today’s press conference Alistair Cragg was looking forward to the challenge of competing in Edinburgh. ‘My build up has been going really well. I ran in Belfast at the Nationals and I was happy with that, so it was good preparation. It is not often you get to compete against the best in the World so this is a great opportunity,’ he said.
‘The Africans always seem to race well in Europe and the Americans are also competing at a good level so it will be an extremely tough race but if I can perform to my ability I would hope to get close to a top ten finish.’
Team Manager Anne Keenan Buckley is confident the team can do well despite the withdrawals. ‘To lose Keith and Maria is disappointing but it provides a great opportunity for Annette to come in and experience a World Championships.
‘The fact that the event is taking place on our doorstep will mean we are not travelling too far and the climate will be familiar to all our runners.
‘It will also be a lot easier to adapt to the course compared to Toro last December. The level of competition will be fierce but we have a lot of quality athletes on this team who are running well at the moment so we can hope for some good performances on Sunday.’
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Dibaba wins World Cross-Country title
Sunday, 30 March 2008 16:01
Tirunesh Dibaba won a third IAAF World Cross-Country Championship title in Edinburgh.
The Ethiopian star regained the title she surrendered to Lornah Kiplagat in Mombasa a year ago, timing her finish superbly to pull away in the final 400 metres of the eight-kilometre course at Holyrood Park.
Her speedy finish pulled her five seconds clear of fellow Ethiopian Mestawet Tufa with Linet Masai of Kenya, last year’s junior champion, finishing third.
Meseret Defar led Ethiopia to a seventh successive team victory ahead of their arch-rivals Kenya, with Australia third.
Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton had a disappointing run finishing 32nd in the Edinburgh race.
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Bekele breaks record taking Championship
Sunday, 30 March 2008 16:32
Kenenisa Bekele recovered from losing a shoe to easily win a record sixth men’s long course title at the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships in Edinburgh.
Bekele quickly got himself back into contention in the 12km race after the early incident before unleashing a long run to the finishing line for a three-second victory.
The Ethiopian’s outstanding display saw him push Leonard Komon into second place with Eritrea’s defending champion Zersenay Tadese finishing third.
Komon led Kenya to a 21st team success from Ethiopia with Eritrea placing third.
Ireland’s Alistair Cragg pulled out with two laps of the race remaining.
