Paul Tergat at the 1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships (© Getty Images)
Five-time World Cross Country Champion, Paul Tergat of Kenya runs in Belgrade on Wednesday in the first international sporting event to be held in the city (outside of a Yugoslavia-Croatia football match) since Kosovo.
Tergat competes in the 6 kilometre Belgrade Race Through History, so-called because it winds around the grounds of the 2000 year old Kalemegdan fortress, which stands near the city centre overlooking the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers.
The Kenyan, who also won the world half-marathon title recently is competing in the event for the fourth successive year, but has yet to win it. The task will not be any easier on Wednesday, since he will race against the Mohamed Mourhit, the Moroccan born Belgian 5000 metres bronze medallist in Seville this August.
With Belgrade airport still closed, the athletes are having to be bussed in from Budapest, a trip which can take five to six hours. But Tergat says he is willing to put up with the inconvenience. "The Belgrade organisers do a very good job, and we're really well treated. I also want to win this race after three attempts".
Other leading performers include former Olympic 10,000 metres bronze medallist, Fita Bayessa of Ethiopia, and Paulo Guerra of Portugal, who this year became the first non-African to win a world cross country medal (bronze) in a decade.
The Race Through History includes competitors from 17 countries, and is organised by the Belgrade Marathon, which went ahead with their annual race on April 17 this year in the middle of the NATO bombing campaign.
Race Director, Dejan Nikolic said yesterday, "We organise several domestic and international events throughout the year. By force of circumstance, this is going to be the only one this year which is anywhere near normal, and wed like to thank the athletes for supporting us in our enterprise."
Pat Butcher for the IAAF
