Posted: January 9, 2006

Athletics: Dibaba To Defend In Edinburgh

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Bob Ramsak

Tirunesh Dibaba, who last year raced to a double victory at the World Cross Country Championships, will make her 2006 debut at the VisitScotland Great Edinburgh Cross Country on Saturday, Jan. 14, organizers announced today.

Last January, the 20-year-old Ethiopian kicked off her sparkling 2005 season at the event with a victory over then reigning world champion Benita Johnson of Australia. Two weeks later, she broke the world indoor record for 5000 meters at the Boston Indoor Games and in August, she claimed another double, winning the 5000 and 10,000m world titles in Helsinki.

Topping a star-studded entry list, World and Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele will also compete in Edinburgh.

"Having the two best cross country runners in the world --they both achieved world long and short doubles last year and led Ethiopia to gold medal successes in all four races-- taking part is of course brilliant news," said elite athletes director Matthew Turnbull.

Previously announced in the women's field were Kenyan Isabella Ochichi, Sonia O'Sullivan of Ireland, and Briton Jo Pavey.

"I'm still chasing another couple of overseas stars to beef the women's field up," Turnbull said.

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