DANIEL KOMEN, the world 3,000 metres record holder, heads a strong field for the Durham International cross country race on December 28th.

The Kenyan will face most of Britain's top distance runners, including Paul Evans, Jon Brown and John Nuttall. Bedford's Paula Radcliffe, fifth in the Olympic 5,000 metres, will defend her title in the women's race against Ireland's Catherina McKiernan, the four time world cross country silver medallist.

Komen missed the Atlanta Olympics after finishing only fourth in the Kenyan 5,000m trials, but put together a brilliant sequence of victories afterwards, culminating in his world record of 7 minutes 20.67 seconds in Rieti in September.

"I think Komen is going to be something extra special even better than Said Aouita, Haile Gebresilassie and the other all time greats," said Brendan Foster, the Durham race director. "He's still only 20."