ALAN O’BRIEN (Crusaders) was relatively unknown when he won the IMC 800m at Cork City Sports last year.

SERGIY LEBID stole the show with a devastating last lap surge to claim his fifth successive title - and his sixth in all - at the SPAR European cross-country championships in Tilburg, overcoming the challenge of Spain’s Alberto Garcia, the European 5,000m champion who only returned from a two-year ban for a positive drugs test last March.

Two European Cross Country Champions and an indoor silver medallist have joined the elite field for the Great BUPA Ireland Run which takes place in the Phoenix Park, Dublin on Saturday, April 9 next.