Sunday the 30th March saw the 36th IAAF World Cross Championships being held in Holyrood Park. I took the opportunity to go along and lend some support to British athletes lining up in the world class fields for the four events of the day. An estimated 20,000 people turned up to watch the event which gave it a fantastic atmosphere.

First up were the junior women who competed over a 6km course which comprised 3 laps of the course with the 2nd and third laps taking in the infamous Haggis Knowe. As expected the African nations dominated this race, a theme that would be repeated over the course of the afternoon. Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia won this race by 5 seconds from the Kenyan Irine Chepet Cheptai. Emebt Etea of Ethiopia completed the podium places.

The second race was of the day was the junior men’s race over an 8km course. Again Ethopia and Kenya took all three podium places with Ethiopian Ibrahim Jeilan finishing  just 2 seconds ahead of his team mate Ayele Abshero while Lucas Kimeli Rotich of Kenya just another 2 seconds behind. Just 7 seconds covered the top five finishers with the downhill finish providing the perfect platform for an all out sprint for the line.

The senior women’s race provided some real excitement for the home support with Liz and Hayley Yelling making their way to the front of the field on the first lap and setting the early pace. The crowd loved this and really cheered them on. By the end of the second lap however the African nations had once again stamped their authority on the race. Tirunesh Dibaba left it late to launch her attack from fourth place on the final ascent of Haggis Knowe and kicked for home to win by 5 seconds in a time of 25:10. Fellow Ethiopian Mestawet Tufa took second and Kenya’s Linet Chepkwemoi Masai came in another 3 seconds down in third place. Liz Yelling achieved her best World Championship placing coming in in 15th place while Hayley Yelling was placed 21st.

The senior men’s was being billed as a ‘Clash of the Titans’ with Kenenisa Bekele coming head to head with Zersenay Tadese. The atmosphere was building to a crescendo for this race and it was amazing to see the 180 or so starters jostling for position over the first couple of hundred metres. After all the excitement the crowd looked on in incredulity as Bekele lost his shoe after about 3km. Being a seasoned professional he stopped to put it back on and rejoined the race having lost about 40 places. By the end of the 3rd lap he had clawed his way back into contention but it remained to be seen whether the effort of coming back would take its toll. When Tadese started to push the pace Bekele was able to respond before himself applying pressure in the final kilometre and pulling clear of Tadese. Bekele took his 6th World title by 3 seconds from Leonard Patrick Komon of Kenya who passed Tadese in the closing stages. This last race sealed a clean sweep of gold medals for the Ethiopians on the day.

It was truly inspiring to see a field of world class athletes competing so close to home. Having experienced cross country racing for the first time myself this year I was able to appreciate how good these athletes are. Congratulations should go to Scottish Athletics for managing to secure these championships and for organising such a memorable day. Plus I can’t forget the Ethiopian and Eritrean fans who added some real colour and noise to the day!