Jeylan targets Stormont victory

Sligo athlete Mary Cullen (left) in action in last year's event

Ethiopia's current world junior 10,000m champion Ibrahim Jeylan is among the favourites for Saturday's International Cross Country meeting at Stormont.

The 17-year-old's main rivals in the men's event include Fabiano Joseph, Moses Kipsiro and Tadesse Tola.

The main interest in the women's race is Etalemahu Kidane - the Ethiopian will be aiming for a hat-trick of wins in the 30th year of the event.

The main Irish hopefuls include Gary Murray and Mary Cullen.

Jeylan has already shown at his tender age that he has the potential to become one of the youngest medallists ever at next August's World Championships in Osaka.

The teenager caused a major sensation in Brussels last August when he recorded 27.02.81, the fourth best time in the world last year which was an Ethiopian Junior and World Youth record.

With such performances he could be a worthy opponent to take on his great team-mate Bekele in Japan.

Current African 10,000m champion Moses Kipsiro was edged out by one second by Kenya's Barnabas Kosgei last year and he is likely to challenge again on Saturday.

However, the biggest threat to Jeylan could be his compatriot Tadesse Tola who was third in the Brussels International Cross Country event a fortnight ago.

Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania is also a quality athlete as demonstrated by his bronze medal in last year's Commonwealth Games 10,000m and World Half-Marathon triumph in 2005.

Former World bronze medallist Kidane may have her work cut out in the women's race to defeat in-form team-mate Teyiba Erkesso, who successfully defended her Brussels title two weeks ago against high class opposition.

To add to the mix, recently crowned European U23 Cross Country champion Binnaz Uslu will also be taking the start line at Stormont while top British hope is former European champion Hayley Yelling.

Mary Cullen was top Irish women's finisher in fourth place last year and another top-six finish could be in prospect after her solid 14th in the European Cross Country Championships in Italy last month.

Joe McAllister is among the Irish male hopefuls which also include Gary Murray, Mark Kenneally and Vinny Mulvey while Jill Shannon is likely to be the top Northern Ireland female.