Athletics: Mo's Dublin date

Brit to tackle cross country event in December

Last updated: 26th October 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

<b>Athletics:</b> Mo's Dublin date

Farah: Dublin next

Great Britain track star Mo Farah has the European Cross Country Championship in Dublin as his next big target after winning the Great South Run on Sunday.

The 26-year-old defeated South African Stephen Mokoka and Kenyan Luke Kibet in a thrilling 10-mile race in Portsmouth - Farah's first serious event away from the track.

Next summer's European Championships remain his key focus, where Farah is looking to improve on his 5,000m silver medal of three years ago.

However, the cross country event on December 13 - the first European Athletics Championship event ever to be held in Ireland - is his next port of call as he looks to gain further experience away from the oval.

"My aim is to go to Kenya tomorrow with my mates and train with the (Kenyan) boys at 8000 feet and get ready for the European Cross Country in Dublin," he said.

"That's the next big step. Until then it's a case of staying injury free and focused."

Farah remains Britain's big hope of one day achieving great things in the marathon, where UK athletes currently fall some way short of their African counterparts.

But any thoughts of stepping up appear to be on the back-burner until after next summer's European Championships in Barcelona starting on July 26.