Youngest IAAF event launching pad for future stars
by Phil Minshull

Athletics is essentially an individual sport, where success or failure is determined by one own efforts, but the International Amateur Athletic Federation World Road Relay Championships is the one event on the World Series calendar where the axiom comes true that no single athlete is greater than the team.

Influenced by the popular Japanese ekidens - road relays over varying distances and with varying numbers of runner which have existed since the 19^th century - the IAAF decided to introduce its own world championship road relay in 1992.

After some discussion, the composition was finalised at three legs of five kilometres, two of ten kilometres and a final stage of 7,195 metres which brought the race to a fitting conclusion after six runners had combined to complete the classic full marathon distance.

Following the success of the first three editions of the championship, the distances have now become the de facto standard for similar events around the world.

The first championship was held on the Portuguese island of Madeira on the weekend of May 9^th and 10^th, 1992. It set a trend which is likely to continue in Manaus - of being the launching pad for future stars of the sport.

The IAAF’s youngest championship got off to a flying start from the outset with very first world road relay gold medals being won appropriately by the inaugural championship hosts, the Portuguese women.

Honoured with the final glory leg was 23-year-old Fernanda Ribeiro, whose gold medal was a prelude to the others that have since followed on the global stage.

The men’s race provided an equally enthralling glimpse into the crystal ball with William Sigei being among the victorious Kenyan team.

Sigei won the first of his two world cross country championships titles the following year and in 1994 became the first man to go under 27 minutes for 10,000m.

Only 16 nations contested the first championship but its global nature was emphasised by entries coming from as far as Angola, Brazil, Fiji and Japan.

Two years later in Litochoro the number of nations making the trip to Greece had nearly doubled to 30 and it was Morocco’s turn to bask in the sun.

Morocco brought a phenomenal men’s team to the championship including future giants of the sport Hicham El Guerrouj and Salah Hissou, who had not yet quite matured into the dominating runners they are today, and Olympic champions Brahim Boutayeb and Khalid Skah.

In a memorable race El Guerrouj, in his last major championship race over a distance further than 1,500m, gave Morocco the lead on the third leg after which they were never headed. They put nearly a minute between themselves and an equally impressive Ethiopian squad which included Haile Gebrselassie to set a championship record of 1:57:56, the standard which all the men’s teams will be trying to beat in Brazil.

Ethiopia had to also settle for second place in the women’s contest when they were beaten by Russia. The race demonstrated the nature of the event perfectly because Ethiopia could not clinch the title despite the presence of Olympic champion Derartu Tulu in their team.

Tulu ran the best 10km time of the day by more than half-a-minute, but ultimately all six runners have to pull together to ensure success and Ethiopia were unable to provide her with sufficient support.

The East African nation finally got the gold medals they so desired two years ago along the seafront of the Danish capital Copenhagen.

They arrived without an injured Tulu but did have the then reigning World Cross Country champion Gete Wami. However it was their less well-known compatriot Berhane Adere who got the plaudits by breaking Tulu’s 10km championship best with a superb second leg run of 32:21.

The Kenyan men took the gold medal as they had four years previously, helped by a contribution from the formidable road racer Joseph Kimani, who ran the fastest 10km time of the day with 28:33.

The question now to be posed is who will stand on top of the podium in Manaus. In the men’s race Brazil could emulate the Portuguese women of 1992 and take the title on home soil but to do so they will have to fend of a strong challenge from the Kenyans who never envisage losing when distance running gold medals are at stake.

The women’s race could see the three medallists from Copenhagen - Ethiopia, Romania and Japan - again dispute the leading positions at the first ever IAAF event to take place in South America but one thing is certain. Somewhere in the results will be the name of someone who soon will make their own personal impact on the sport.