Lebid looks forward to Oostende

Sergey Lebid wasted little time after savouring his historic seventh SPAR European Cross Country Championships Senior men's title before starting to think about the possibility of acquiring another gold medal in 12 months time.

"I am already looking forward to running in Oostende. I have some very good memories of the city and competing there" said the 32-year-old Ukrainian runner who has also competed in every edition of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships since they were inaugurated in 1994.

For statistics fans, his win in Toro on Sunday means he has now won exactly half the Senior men's gold medals on offer at the 14 SPAR European Cross Country Championships to date, consolidating the claim that he is Europe's greatest ever Cross Country runner.

"In 2001 I won a silver medal at the World Cross County Championships in Oostende and that's been my best ever result at a World Championship. Hopefully I'll have some similar success when I return there.

"I've just heard that the course will be different to the one that was used at the World Cross Country Championships but I wouldn't be surprised if it is muddy as well. Cross country races in Belgium are often muddy but I am not worried about what surface I am running on."

Rather then the Wellington Hippodrome, which superbly staged the 2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships with just three weeks notice, it will be the De Schorre sports park which is the venue for the 2008 SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

The De Schorre sports park has staged the Belgian Cross Country Championships in recent years and has already been acknowledged as one of the country's top circuits.

For Lebid, the advantage of the slight shift in location, is that the more inland De Schorre is likely to be a little less exposed to the bitter wind that blows off the North Sea in December than the racecourse which nestles by the promenade on Oostende's coast.

Lebid's only complaint about his latest triumph on the European stage is that in addition to the other 56 runners in the race in Spain, he had to battle some gusting breezes which had picked up during the course of the six races on the programme.

"Running in muddy conditions holds no fear for me, unlike for some athletes. I seem to be able to run very well in the mud and in 2001 it was to my advantage. I like it less if there is a strong wind, that makes running harder," reflected Lebid, whose delight on the afternoon of March 25, 2001, was famously captured in a photograph seen around the world, with a brilliant grin shining out from an almost unrecognisable figure caked from head to foot in dirt.

"My only worry now is about injuries. I don't want another year like this last one. I have really only been training properly since the start of September.

"I seemed to have one problem after another since the start fo the year. I seemed to be training for about a month, then get injured, train again for a month, then another injury. It was a lot like that and the last injury I had was with my right foot.

"The injuries ruined my plans to run a Marathon and they also meant I didn't run in Osaka," added Lebid.

This year's interruptions to his plans means that Lebid will turn his attention back to the track before running in Oostende.

"I don't think I will run a Marathon next year. I'm planning to run the 5,000m or maybe the 10,000m at the Olympic Games. I want to improve my times," said Lebid, well-aware that his personal best times of 13:10.78 and 28:.09.71 respectively are far from representative of the ability he has shown as a Cross Country runner.

However, whatever he achieves on the track next summer, for better or worse, when the time comes to write the previews of the 2008 SPAR European Cross Country Championships the man from Dnepropetrovsk will also be installed as the man to beat in Oostende.