He’s not familiar with V8s, Peter Brock or motorsport in general but legendary Kenyan athlete Paul Tergat is confident of one thing: Mount Panorama will suit African runners down to the ground.
Many of the world’s best distance runners have this week arrived in Australia to compete in the World Cross Country Championships, which will be held in Bathurst, in NSW’s central west. It is the first time Australia has hosted the prestigious World Cross Country Championships.
The major races, which see Olympic and world champion athletes duke it out over a 10km, all-terrain circuit, will be run on the iconic Mount Panorama, a venue synonymous with motor racing. The track itself won’t be part of the race, instead, competitors will run five laps of a 2km circuit located up the hill, behind pit lane and the paddock.
While fuel-guzzling V8s and lithe distance runners have little in common, the Bathurst 1000 and the World Cross Country Championships do have shared DNA. As opposed to flat racing, to win in both you have to negotiate hilly topography, possess speed and extreme endurance, and most of all, you have to be ready for any chaotic conditions thrown at you.
“That’s the beauty of cross-country – you have to be prepared for anything,” Tergat said.
Paul Tergat in Sydney this week and as a World Cross Country Champion (inset).Credit:Janie Barrett, Getty
“It is always unpredictable. It is not like track. You know what to expect with the terrain and the conditions. But cross-country, sometimes it will be windy, sometimes it will be muddy, sometimes it could be hilly. Sometimes it will extremely hot. It is always different, and that’s what makes cross-country unique.”
Nobody knows how to win a World Cross Country Championship better than Tergat. The Olympic track runner and marathoner became the first – and only – man to win five consecutive World Cross Country Championships, between 1995 and 2000. Given how hard it is to win just one race – which is now only held every two years – it is a record that will likely never be broken.
Members of the Australian World Cross Country team Jack Rayner, Rose Davies, Abbey Caldwell and Stewart McSweyn on Mount Panorama.Credit:Steve Christo/Athletics Australia
“To be able to be a great athlete, you have to make sure you participate in cross-country. Because when you are in cross-country, you are not just competing against your opponents, you are keeping an eye on the terrain; whether it is up and down, or with a twist, or with mud. So the concentration is always there,” Tergat, a Bathurst WXC ambassador, said.
“And the beauty of cross country is you are not just competing against one type of runner. It is the middle-distance runners all the way through to the marathoners, they meet together. It is a very unique sport. It is a very special championship because this is the only place all these athletes will meet. They won’t ever meet on the track.”
Cross-country running is unique because of what’s spelled out in the name. Courses all the way up to world championship level are run on uneven grass and dirt tracks, and athletes routinely have to negotiate mud, sand, steep hills, log obstacles and sharp turns.
The two-kilometre Bathurst course has a sandy stretch called “Bondi Beach”, a swamp section called the “Billabong” and athletes will also race through a vineyard. To make life even more difficult, temperatures in Bathurst for the main day of racing on Saturday are forecast to reach 35 degrees.
All of which sounds like ideal to the African stars, said Tergat.
“In Bathurst, it is a very unique course, it is very fast, it is a motor racing course,” Tergat said.
Paul Tergat on his way to winning the World Cross Country Championships in Belfast in 1999.Credit:Getty
“You can never tell, cross-country is cross-country. But because of the weather being warmer, I think most of the runners from Africa will be a good chance. I don’t want to say individuals, but I think the winners will come from Kenyans, Ugandans and Ethiopians.”
In the men’s race on Saturday night, Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei is the one to beat. He won the 2019 World Cross Country Championships (the event was cancelled in 2021), and won the 5000m gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. He also holds the world record for the 5000m and 10000m. His main challengers will be compatriot Jacob Kiplimo and two-time WXC champion Kenyan Geoffrey Kamworor, while Australia’s best hope will be Olympic marathoner Jack Rayner.
In the women’s race, Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey – who holds the world records in the 5000m, 10000m and half-marathon – will be a hot favourite, with Rose Davies shaping as Australia’s best chance.
Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, who is world record holder for the 500m amd 10000m, is the favourite for the men’s race.Credit:AFP
Team medals are also awarded for the best combined results, and Kenya have been historically dominant.
Australia will field a strong team in the 4 x 2km mixed relay race on Saturday, with Stewart McSweyn, Ollie Hoare, Jessica Hull and Abbey Caldwell a decent chance of a medal.
Tergat – a former world record holder in the 10,000m and marathon – hadn’t returned to Sydney since the 2000 Olympics, where he was part of one of the most famous 10000m races in history. He and legendary Ethopian Haile Gebrselassie duelled in a sprint down the last 100m, and Tergat was just pipped by his nemesis for a second straight Olympics, this time by nine-hundredths of a second.
Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, left, nears a photo finish with Kenya’s Paul Tergat, at the Sydney Olympics.Credit:AP
“I have not been back to Sydney since the year 2000, so 23 years down the line I have come back and it is great and even if for one minute, I would like to visit the Olympic Stadium,” Tergat said.
“It is where I lost a gold medal by the width of a vest. I will never forget that.”
After a few phone calls, Tergat was back on Accor Stadium, where turf has long since replaced the track on which he and Gebrselassie sprinted the last 100m in 14 seconds. Tergat pointed out Gebrselassie was only evening up the ledger on that famous night.
“I had been competing with Haile for many years,” Tergat said.
“On the track, we were together. He made this world record, I broke this world record. We were always competing for medals on the track. But he didn’t get any medals in the cross-country. That is the difference. In cross-country, he competed with me until he gave up.”
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