Ammon News - AMMAN - The 37th International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Cross Country Championships kicks off on Saturday with the participation of more than 700 athletes and officials from 63 countries.

The event, to be held under the patronage of HRH Prince Feisal, president of the Jordan Olympic Committee, will host the world’s best middle and long distance runners marking the biggest social and sporting event for this season.

“Every dollar spent to host this event is regarded as an investment for Jordan,” Prince Feisal said in a stat - ement.

“Hosting major international sporting events is part of our long-term vision for promoting Jordan to the world and events like this are crucial while at the same time improving sporting facilities and opportunities for all Jordanians,” he added.

Meanwhile, President of the Jordan Athletics Federation Ismael Ghassab told The Jordan Times that Amman is ready to host a world-class event.

“We have an army of trained volunteers, a lot of strong will and ambition to host this event here in the Kingdom,” he said.

“The Bisharat Golf Club is ready and will be used as a future dual facility as a running/walking location with the new track running around the perimeter of the club to be opened for future use,” he added.

Sport in Jordan reached another landmark when the Kingdom won the bid to host the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Monaco in 2007.

IAAF was satisfied with the level of sport in the Kingdom after a presentation on Jordan’s ability to host such an important event.

“This will be a family event where fans can enjoy the competition and the scenery at the same time that is why we have provided free transportation and some social activities on the side for all to enjoy,” Ghassab said.

Meanwhile, sports in the Kingdom is going green.

“For the first time in the Kingdom, the environment and ‘green’ issues have been given priority as organisers bid to ensure that everything possible is done to guarantee the landscape is enhanced and not affected by the event,” Ghassab said.

“Organisers even took the unprecedented step of re-routing the course to avoid disruption to a huge ant colony which would have originally been destroyed,” Ghassab added.

Organisers have managed to cable in electricity mains to cut down on emissions from temporary generators while a massive recycling operation will be launched to dispose of the waste generated on the race day.

The event will miss reigning Olympic 10,000m and 5,000m gold medallist and world record holder Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele who suffered an ankle injury sustained in a November race. His teammate, women’s champion Tirunesh Dibaba, also confirmed that she will miss the event due to injury.

Ethiopia will have to depend on trials winner Gebregziabher Gebremariam, who won two silver medals in the 2004 edition of the championships. He will be joined by Tadesse Tola - seventh in Mombasa two years ago, Feyissa Lelisa - 14th in the junior race last year, and world indoor 3,000m champion Tariku Bekele.

Twenty-four athletes from Ethiopia will take part.

With Bekele and Dibaba out of the way, competition for medals will be strong and exciting as ever.

The Netherlands’ European champion Hilda Kibet is entered in the women’s senior race along with former World Junior XC champions Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia (2004) and Kenya’s Linet Masai (2007), who was the senior bronze medallist last year, Bahrain’s Asian XC champion and world 1,500m title holder Maryam Yusuf Jamal and 2009 Kenyan champion Florence Kiplagat.

Other names to watch: Great Britain’s Stephanie Twell - world junior 1,500m and European Junior XC champion, US’ German Fernandez - USA Junior XC champion, world’s fastest Junior indoor miler and Kenya’s team captain Mark Kiptoo - who finished 3rd at Kenyan trials.

World 3,000m Steeplechase record holder Saif Saeed Shaheen will lead a strong Qatari team in the event which is expected to have a worldwide coverage that is expected to reach 500 million people.

Joining Shaheen in the Qatari team will be recently-minted Asian Cross Country Champion Ahmed Abdullah Hassan. The 26-year-old, who is also the Asian 10,000m record holder, led his country to a clean sweep of the first four places in the senior men’s 12km race at the 10th Asian Cross Country Championships in Bahrain last month.

Qatar also has the reigning world marathon silver medallist Mubarak Hassan Shami ready for the challenge in the Kingdom. The former Kenyan is no stranger over the cross country having taken part in each of the last three editions of the World Cross Country Championships.

Kenya’s young long distance runner Pauline Korikwiang, holder of a gold medal and two silvers in cross country, told The Jordan Times that she is looking forward to competing in the event.

“I have been training for such a long time now to be part of this event held in Amman for the first time,” said Korikwiang, who is sponsored by G4S - an international security company.

“We have a lot of competition and a truly tough one but all we can do is run and hope for the best,” she added.

Korikwiang is part of the G4S 4teen programme which attracted the support of several Olympic heroes including double Olympic gold medallist Haile Gebrselassie. The programme gathers a broad mix of international talent from Bangladesh, Botswana, Colombia, Chinese Taipei, Estonia, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Macau, Nigeria, South Africa and Thailand all hoping to compete at the London Olympics with the support of G4S.

Last year, Edinburgh hosted the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in which Ethiopian runners celebrated their country’s first ever sweep of the four individual race titles in the slippery muddy conditions.

Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, Tirunesh Dibaba, Ibrahim Jeilan and Genzebe Dibaba rounded the first places of four individual races.

The event will give a rare opportunity for Jordanian athletes to rub shoulders with international runners. The Kingdom is taking part with seven runners in each of the senior men, junior men and junior women events.

Jordan’s squad will include: Senior men: Methkal Abu Drais, Mohammad Abu Mansour, Aymen Rubaiat, Bashar Al Kufrini, Suliman Al Ghodran, Hamza Al Madahna and Hussein Momani. Junior men: Ra’ed Abu Mharab, Yazan Abunaja, Motasem Akkawi, Tha’er Al Jawhar, Salameh Al Hayawi, Hasan Al Najjar and Hamza Barhumah. Junior women: Ghurood Al Dghaimat, Nahidah Al Bawwat, Rasha Ayoub, Asimah Ghanem, Esra’a Ikhlawi, Ala’Ziad Khalifah and Faten Nemrawi.

Jordanian athletes are supervised by coaches Khaled Hindawi, Imad Ahmad, Ata Balwi and Abdullah Khanazreh.

“We hope our athletes will benefit from this event and learn to improve their skills for future events,” Ghassab said.

Jordan took part in the IAAF cross country championships in 1985, 2005 and 2008.

A sum of $280,000 in prize money will be paid by the IAAF for the two senior races and no prize paid for the two junior races. The payment is dependent upon the athletes clearing the usual anti-doping procedures.

The IAAF World Cross Country Championships started in Belgium in 1973 and is being held in Asia for the second time after Japan.

The event gets underway on Saturday with a sparkling opening ceremony at 1:30pm to be followed by the first race at 2:30pm. There will be a total of four races, with the final event, featuring several Olympic medallists and world record holders, taking place at 4:30pm.

The Jordan Times, By Roufan Nahhas
* AP photo, by Nader Daoud