Posted: March 7, 2007

Athletics: Bekele To Run World Cross After All

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com Kenenisa Bekele will have an opportunity to win his 11th individual senior title at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya, on March 25, the IAAF reported today. Bekele, who had previously said many times that he would not contest these championships, has been added to the Ethiopian team, along with Gelete Burka on the women's squad. Bekele's addition to the team lifts the fortunes of the Ethiopian squad to take back the team long-course gold they had won in 2005 in St. Galmier, France. That year, Bekele led an Ethiopian route of the Kenyans, 24 points to 35 points. However, despite placing Bekele and his teammate Sileshi Sihine on the top two steps of the podium in Fukuoka last year, the Kenyans showed better depth to take the men's 12-K senior title with 24 points, with Eritrea further upsetting the Ethoipians to take the silver medal. The addition of Bekele to the meet is also good news for the Kenyan organizers who will surely receive more media attention with the 10,000m world record holder entered in the competition.