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Commonwealth 10,000m champion Boniface Kiprop of Uganda makes a welcome return for the Antrim IAAF Cross Country International at the Greenmount Campus, Antrim in 10 days time. This IAAF event is organised and promoted by Athletics Northern Ireland and sponsored by Antrim Borough Council and McCain.

In last year’s race Kiprop seemed to be firmly in control at the front when he suddenly lost a shoe at 4 miles thereby losing valuable seconds to Ethiopian Jida Merga. Having recovered the shoe Kiprop made the fatal mistake of closing the gap on the leaders too quickly. An exhausted Kiprop was then unable to cover Merga’s sprint finish who won by 2 seconds over the disgruntled Ugandan. Kiprop does not intend to repeat this mistake and starts as firm favourite to finally win a title here- he was 6th at Stormont in 2003 behind 8 times European Champion Sergey Lebid.

Kiprop’s main opposition will include British international Mike Skinner (who finished 8th at the Edinburgh Cross Country at the weekend) and Steve Vernon plus Kenyan Mike Kegan. The classy 23 year old African was 5th in the World Cross Country in 2006 and last September he recorded an impressive 5000m time of 13.04 in Brussels.

The Ladies race now has two women who performed well in the recent European Cross Country Championships. In addition to surprise winner Hayley Yelling, the field will include Portugal’s Analia Rosa and Britain’s Laura Kenney who was 17th and 22nd respectively in Dublin. Rosa’s high finish was still insufficient to gain her a place on their all conquering gold medal team. Also racing at Antrim will be Britain’s Kate Avery who took the European Junior bronze medal in Dublin.

Previous winners of the IAAF International meeting which started way back in 1977 have included world and Olympic champions. Notable names have included Paula Radcliffe, Paul Tergat, Steve Cram, Steve Ovett, John Tracey, Khalid Skah, Sergey Lebid, Liz McColgan, Brendan Foster plus a host of other world class Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes.

The event is one of eleven IAAF permitted cross country races in the world and is part of the UK McCain Cross Challenge Series. The well-established series is the focus of the domestic endurance running scene over the winter months and this year it has been given a huge boost by the support of Antrim Borough Council.

Spectators are invited to come along and watch these international runners race in the picturesque surroundings of Greenmount.