DUBLIN 2009 SENIOR MEN'S PREVIEW: Lebid and Farah ready to duel again

If the 2008 SPAR European Cross Country Championships produced a fantastic senior men's race, then this year's edition in Dublin on Sunday could be even better.

All eyes will be on whether the defending champion and eight-time gold medallist Serhiy Lebid can again come home ahead of Great Britain's 2006 European Cross Country champion Mo Farah and Sweden's Mustafa Mohamed over the 9997m course.

Farah and Mohamed had to eventually settle for the silver and bronze medals behind the Ukrainian, arguably Europe's best ever Cross Country exponent, but Lebid only managed to pull away from Farah 500m from home in Brussels after Mohamed had been dropped a little earlier.

"I think that was maybe my hardest victory ever," reflected Lebid later that day. He can be certain that this year will not be any easier either as not only are Farah and Mohamed again on the start line but also Spain's Ayad Landassem and Belgium's Peter Desmet, fourth and fifth 12 months ago.

Lebid, who is the only person to have competed in all 15 championships to date, has followed his usual routine at this time of year and has not competed in a Cross Country race so far this winter.

"I'll go back home soon and be with the family for few weeks, and I'll then train down by the Black Sea for maybe two weeks before going up into the mountains in the south of Russia for about a month," Lebid told www.european-athletics.org in October.

"Most years, I have not raced in the six to eight weeks before the SPAR European Cross Country Championships and that works well for me. I come down from the mountains maybe a week before the championships and I'm on the start line feeling fresh, fit and ready to do battle." 

Lebid's representatives confirmed this week that everything has gone to plan while he has been staying out-of-sight of his rivals.

Farah impressed when winning the Great South Run on 25 October, covering 10 miles in a personal best of 46:25, before going to train in Kenya for nearly a month. On his return, Farah finished fifth at the historic Cross l'Acier in Leffrinckroucke, France, on 29 November. 

Nevertheless, it was a useful outing that augurs well for Sunday as Farah was the leading European and came home only eight seconds behind the Ethiopian winner Imane Merga, who won the 2009 World Athletics Final 5000m and who was fourth in the