Champion Lebid to compete in Great Ireland Run

Six-times European Cross-Country Champion Sergei Lebid has been confirmed for the Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park in April.

He takes on three-times race winner Craig Mottram, while Sonia O'Sullivan and Jolene Byrne head the women's field.

Organisers are also hoping to persuade USA cross-country champion Dathan Ritzenheim to take part.

He lost his Belfast International title at the weekend, but is aiming for the medals at today's Great North Cross-Country in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, Ireland's Jolene Byrne will miss next Saturday's big cross-country international in Edinburgh.

She is still suffering from an injured ankle picked up in the opening lap of last month's European Cross-Country Championships in Tilburg.

But Byrne says she expects to be back in time for the World Indoors in Moscow in March, and the World Cross-Country in Japan the following month.