Ethiopian Bekele wins men's world cross title

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

EDINBURGH (AFP) — Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele won the men's world cross country title here on Sunday for a record sixth time.

Bekele finished the 12.1km course in 34min 38sec, 0.03sec ahead of Patrick Komon of Kenya, with defending champion Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea in third at a further 0.02.

Bekele suffered a nightmare early in the race when he was clipped from behind and had the heel of one of his running shoes ripped off on the second of the first two short laps.

The Ethiopian, the world record holder at 5,000m and 10,000m, stopped to readjust his footing, gather himself mentally and quickly made up lost ground.

By halfway he was alongside Tadese and the Kenyan duo of Komon and Joseph Ebuya as runners dropped off when the pace picked up over the...