Bekele to make run at sixth consecutive cross country title

MOMBASA, Kenya -- After winning his fifth consecutive title last year, Kenenisa Bekele said he wouldn't return for the 2007 World Cross Country Championships.

And yet, Bekele, 24, is back for today's races, aiming to become the first runner to win six long-course titles in succession. Bekele, unbeaten at cross country since 2001, holds the world records in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.

"The more I thought about it, I realized that it was at this competition that I first achieved fame," the Ethiopian said Friday. "I decided that as long as I am able to run, why would I miss this?"

Runners from more than 60 nations are taking part in the championships, which are being held under tight security after the U.S. embassy in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, said it had been alerted to a possible terrorist threat targeting the races. An Islamic group, which had threatened to disrupt the event to draw attention to Kenyan terror suspects who have been deported to Somalia, called off plans for a demonstration Thursday.

Bekele faces milder uncertainties.

"We don't know the place and we're also unfamiliar with the weather," he said of the steaming heat and humidity in this Kenyan city on the Indian Ocean.

Still, Bekele is confident heading into the 12-kilometer race.

"I believe God blesses people with special talents. Out of many people, only one can win. God has given me that gift repeatedly," said Bekele.

Kenya, the traditional home of some of the world's greatest cross country and distance runners, is staging the championships for the first time.

Kenya's Paul Tergat won the long race five consecutive times from 1995. Another Kenyan, John Ngugi, won a total of five championships from 1986-89 and 1992.

The IAAF eliminated the short-course races this year. Otherwise, Bekele would be going for a sixth consecutive sweep of both the long and short events.

Kenyans have not captured an individual senior title since 2004, when Edith Masai won the short course race in Brussels. World 10,000-meter bronze medalist Moses Mosop and national champion Richard Matelong could push Bekele.

"It's a challenge for everybody, not only with Bekele," Mosop said.

Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba will try to win her third consecutive women's title.

Kenyan-born Lornah Kiplagat, who races for the Netherlands and finished second last year, is trying to become the first European to win since Britain's Paula Radcliffe five years ago.

"I'm a completely different athlete from the rest," Kiplagat said. "Whatever happens to me, I will always enjoy."