 Tergat was world champion from 1995-1999 |
World marathon record holder Paul Tergat will top the bill in the Belfast International Cross Country meeting at Stormont on Saturday, 10 January. The five-times world cross country champion warmed up for a tilt at the 2004 title with a recent victory in Belgium.
It was Tergat's first cross-country race for nearly three years.
The appearance of the elite Kenyan star has given the Belfast race a tremendous boost.
Tergat clocked two hours 4:55 minutes when winning the Berlin marathon three months ago.
He knocked a massive 43 seconds off Kalid Khannouchi's world record set during the 2002 London marathon.
Tergat achieved his cross country world titles in successive year years, the last in Belfast back in 1999 around Barnett's Demense.
A great all-rounder, Tergat also hold the world best half marathon time of 59:17 minutes and four silver medals over 10,000 metres behind his tormentor Haile Gebrselaisse of Ethiopia.
The ladies race already includes Haylet Tullett, Hayley Yelling and former four-times world cross country runner-up Catherina McKiernan.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 