Radcliffe a target for Edinburgh Cross Country

Published on Friday 18 November 2005 01:00

ZERESENAY Tadesse is the first star to be confirmed for the second Great Edinburgh International Cross Country, but more big names are likely to follow. Brendan Foster, chairman of promoters Nova International, said yesterday that Paula Radcliffe and Kenenisa Bekele are among the athletes being targeted to join the Eritrean in Holyrood Park on 14 January.

Foster was in Edinburgh to present his company's Great Run Programme for 2006, which includes the Great Winter Run, on the same day as the cross-country, and the Great Edinburgh 10km run on 7 May. The three events have attracted funding of some 420,000 over the next three years by EventScotland.

While Foster explained that he would like the Edinburgh 10km to become one of the world's biggest mass participation events - 7,000 ran last year and he believes 20,000 is an attainable target - his aims for the cross-country meeting are even more ambitious.

"We are really aggressively wanting to make this the best cross-country race in the world," said Foster. "We want it to be recognised as such and I honestly think with last year's event that we were pretty close to achieving that. Now there's no point in going backwards; we need to make the event better."

The quality of the field is key to this aim, said Foster, who confirmed that Radcliffe and Bekele, the Ethiopian who withdrew from last year's event following the death of his girlfriend, would be approached. And he hinted that Radcliffe, who is yet to confirm whether she will contest the 5,000 or 10,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, may use the event as preparation for the world cross-country title, being held in Fukuoka, Japan, the week after the games.

"It's perfect if you're running the 5000m to go for the world cross-country," explained Foster, "and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Paula does. I know how she thinks. I don't know if she's planning to run the world championship but if she is, then we may well see her in Edinburgh in January. We'll certainly be talking to her."

Foster denied, however, that Radcliffe - whose appearance fees run well into six figures for marathons, and can be in the high five figures for other events - would absorb too big a share of the budget. "We're in good shape with sponsorships and commitments from the council and EventScotland," said Foster.

"We have a budget for the year - one big pot - and the way we look at it is that we want athletes like Paula Radcliffe, Haile Gebrselassie and Zeresenay Tadesse to run in our events and it's a case of working out which ones suit them. If Paula is available for Edinburgh, we'll try and get her."