Farah flies flag for home hopes in star-studded cross country

• From left to right, Sergy Lebid, Mo Farah and Galen Rupp show their allegiance at a photocall at Edinburgh Castle Picture: Rob McDougall

Farah, the first athlete to score a European Championships 5000m and 10000m double for 20 years in Barcelona, will captain the GB and NI team when it tackles opponents from the United States and a Europe Select side in the inaugural Men's International Team Challenge in Holyrood Park over 8km.

The competition, with each squad fielding nine runners, will be decided by the contingent that accumulates the lowest number of points from its first six finishers in the 8km race.

Farah, who became the first-ever Briton to smash through the 13 minutes barrier for 5000m shortly after his triumph in Barcelona last August, knows that both the team contest and the individual race will be a close call given the high quality of the field.

American skipper Galen Rupp, hailed as one of the most exciting American prospects to emerge in recent years, should prove a handful as well as nine-times European cross country champion and select captain Sergey Lebid.

Lebid and Farah have been involved in some great cross country confrontations in recent years, including a spectacular clash at the Edinburgh meeting in 2007, where the Ukrainian won a close race in a specially arranged 4km contest.

Now the stage is set for yet another encounter over what is a demanding course, and both athletes will be determined to score maximum points to contribute to their respective team's bids for victory in the Team Challenge.

The International Men's race which, for the first time, will be held over 4km, brings together a bevy of Olympic, World and European track gold medallists and includes Britain's 2010 number one over 1500m, Tom Lancashire.

Eliud Kipchoge, given his experience of the terrain in Holyrood Park after a victory and three third place finishes over the longer distance on previous visits to Holyrood, will start a strong contender for victory.

But the 2008 Olympic 5000m silver medallist and former world champion will ignore, at his peril, his major rivals, in particular fellow Kenyans Asbel Kiprop and Brimin Kipruto.

Kiprop may be better known for his speed, which saw him awarded the Olympic 1500m gold medal in Beijing over a year after the disqualification of Bahrain's Moroccan-born drug cheat Rashid Ramzi. But he also has a valid cross country pedigree after winning the 2007 World Junior title.

Kipruto has far less experience of the winter-orientated discipline but his credentials as reigning Olympic and former world 3000m steeplechase champion, should see him a major player in the title chase - particularly as the field will have to jump obstacles on each circuit of the race.

Arturo Casado will also be entering new territory at this level, but the Spanish winner of last summer's European Championships 1500m gold medal, leapt at the opportunity to spearhead the European challenge for honours. Ricky Stevenson, winner of the 2010 race when scoring the biggest win of his career against domestic-only opposition, and Nick McCormick, a former two-time winner, join Steve Vernon, a double UK 4km champion when the distance was part of the World Cross Country Championships schedule, also join the line-up.

The Women's International race over 6km, which has always been a major highlight of the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country, has the potential to provide the greatest ever competition given the composition of the star- studded field.

Kenya's current world 5000m and 10000m gold medallists Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai - both former world junior cross country champions - are standout figures on the start list but they know a great fight for victory will be on their hands.

They line up against an illustrious field of overseas entries which also touts fellow countrywoman Milcah Chemos, Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba and Jessica Augusto of Portugal.

On her fifth appearance in Edinburgh, Cheruiyot will be aiming to score a victory after grabbing two second and two third podium places in her previous visits.

Scotland's Freya Murray, the Bupa Great South Run runner-up last October who was hoping to spearhead the British challenge, has been forced to wtihdraw with a foot injury, leaving fellow Scot Steph Twell, Commonwealth 1500m bronze medallist and three-time European junior cross country champion, to fly the flag for the home nation.

Double Olympic marathon runner Liz Yelling and Hattie Dean, the top British finisher in last month's European Championships, also take part.

All events will be broadcast live on BBC 1 between 1pm and 2.30pm.