Men's Race Preview
Debrecen, Hungary - With a total prize purse of US $245,000 being paid by the IAAF, including US $30,000 for an individual victory and US $15,000 for a team win in both the men's and women's races, the 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships, Debrecen, Hungary, which take place on Sunday 8 October are sure to provide memorable competitions over 20km. In the first of our two race previews, we examine the merits of some of the leading players in the Men's 20km Race...

There is no one on show on Sunday with a greater major championship pedigree than Morocco's reigning double World Marathon champion Jaouad Gharib. The 34-year-old also has shorter distance credentials having in 2002 taken the silver medal at the World Half Marathon Championships, which was the forerunner to this IAAF World Athletics Series event. Running last weekend in Newcastle, England at the Great North Run, Gharib came fourth in his season's best for the half marathon (62:41).

Jaouad Gharib of Morocco leading in the men's Marathon (Getty Images)None of the rest of the 20km men's field in Hungary can come close to Gharib's global achievements on the road, though there are a number of athletes who have also scored individual success at the World Half Marathon.

The other individual medallists on show are Martin Sulle of Tanzania (bronze 2003), Eritrea's Yonas Kifle (bronze 2005), and Mubarak Hassan Shami of Qatar (silver 2005). Sulle has a 20km PB of 58:58 (2002), and Kifle was also fourth at the World Half in 2002, while Shami, the former Kenyan Richard Yatich, has now turned successfully to the marathon, having won in Vienna, Venice and Prague in his first three races at that distance.

Of these three athletes it is Shami's which resonates the most, as he was involved in one of the most dramatic tactical miscalculations in major championship history in Edmonton last year. The Qatari signalled the win as he neared the finish, only to find himself embarrassingly out-dipped on the line by Tanzania's Fabiano Joseph.

Mubarak Hassan Shami celebrates his win at the 2005 Venice Marathon (Lorenzo Sampaolo)Gharib's compatriot, Abdelkader El Mouaziz, at 37 is the oldest man in the field, but in major road race terms as a two-time London marathon winner he is the next most successful globally. Though his 20km PB is only 60:22 and dates back to 2003, his international experience - top-8 finisher in 2000 Olympics and 2001 World Champs - makes him a formidable competitor.

Following the form-guide the favourite to win the inaugural World Road Running title is Eritrea's Zersenay Tadesse. The Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist has also been successful off the track at major championship level with a second place finish in the long race at the 2005 World Cross Country Championships. The 24-year-old won the Rotterdam Half Marathon on 10 September in 59:16, the fourth fastest time ever run for the distance, and on the way produced a 20km split of 56:17, the third fastest-time ever recorded.

The Ethiopian contingent is a relatively unknown quantity. They are led by their national trials winner Deriba Merga, whose biggest other claim to fame is that he finished third in the 2005 Great Ethiopian Run 10km. However, Solomon Tsige, second in the national qualification race, has some international experience having finished fifth in the 2004 World Half Marathon championships.

Abdelkader El Mouaziz of Morocco (Getty Images)The Kenyans have selected a strong side as always, with the best being Robert Kipchumba who has a 20km best of 56:21. The next fastest is Wilfred Taragon, 57:34. These two are respectively the fifth and sixth fastest athletes of 2006 over 20km, while another member of the team, Wilson Kebenei Kiprotich has good career credentials at the half marathon with top-3 finishes in Paris, Milan and Lisbon over the years, and an 8th placing at the World Half in 2004.

Uganda will also field a quality line-up with the 2005 World University Games 5000m and 10,000m gold medallist Wilson Busienei Kipkemei, the standout of the team. Ryan Hall, the national cross country champion, is the headliner of in the squad selected by the USA.

The individual entry of Gibraltar's Mark Brown should also be noted. Brown is an amputee and no stranger to arduous tasks of endurance, having enjoyed a rich running career that has taken him to three Paralympics.

Wilson Kiprotich Kebenei (centre) winner of the Prague 10km race (Prague)The hosts Hungary will be hopeful of a good showing from its full selection, though in the main battle for team honours it should be the usual east African powerhouses of endurance, and the Moroccans, and the Qataris who are favourites to medal.

In total athletes from 36 nations have entered to contest the men's 20km.---Chris Turner for the IAAF

Women's Race Preview
Following a mass relay race for students at the start of the morning, the women's 20km opens the championships properly on Sunday at 11.00hrs local time (09.00 GMT), offering the home spectators the best chance of individual success. 29-year-old Aniko Kalovics is a multiple Hungarian national champion and record holder, with PBs of 15:29 (5k), 31:42 (10k), 49:24 (15k) and 69:16 (HM). With experience of two Olympic Games at 10,000m, and a fifth place at the European Cross Country Championships last year, she should be aiming for a top-10 finish, and may well be inspired on home territory.

Aniko Kalovics wins the Udine Half Marathon (Federico Grattoni)The name of two World track champions loom large over the entry list. However, the participation of Ethiopia's Berhane Adere (2003 World 10,000m champion) and Uganda's Dorcus Inzikuru (2005 3000m World Steeplechase champion) is in doubt. The former, who also won the World Half Marathon title in 2002, has reportedly withdrawn following her half marathon victory in Newcastle last weekend, while the Ugandan has recently suffered a serious allergy attack and is said to be unfit to race.

But whatever occurs with these two names, Sunday's event can still boast a World Championship gold medallist in Romania's Constantina Tomescu, who won last year's World Half Marathon Championships, the IAAF World Athletics Series event which has been replaced by this year's inaugural World Road Running Championships. With a 1:05.27 PB set this year Tomescu is the fifth fastest over 20km in the world, and the third quickest of those assembled for the title challenge. Romania can equally rely on Lidia Simon to once again uphold its proud tradition in long distance running. The 33-year-old took the 2001 World Marathon title, so far the zenith of a career littered with other major medals - 1997 World Championship Marathon Bronze, 1999 World Championship Marathon Bronze , 2000 Olympic Marathon Silver, and at the World Half Marathon Championships, three Bronze 1997, 1998, 2000, and silver in 1996.

Leading the world in 2006 over 20km, and entered for Debrecen are the Asian and African record holders, respectively Kayoko Fukushi of Japan - 1:03:41 - and Kenyan Edith Masai - 1:03:52. Fukushi and Masai set their records as intermediate splits on the way to Half Marathon victories, the former in the Marugame Half Marathon (67:26 Area Rec) on 5 February, and the latter at the Berlin Half Marathon (67:16) on the 2 April.

Edith Masai - 1:07:16 victory in the Berlin Half Marathon (Victah Sailer)Fukushi and Masai are major championship performers of the highest pedigree, with a solid ability over a range of distances, and are two very serious challengers for gold this weekend.

Fukushi, 24, is national record holder at 3000m (8:44.40), 5000m (14:53.22), 5km (15:33), Half Marathon (67:26 Area Rec) with two Asian Games track silvers to her credit, and a third place finish over 5000m at the recent World Cup.

Masai, 39, is the three-time World Cross Country short course gold medallist, and ran to bronze over 5000m at the 2003 World Championships, having set the Area record for 3000m in 2002 (8:23.23). After failing to progress from her 5000m heat at the 2004 Olympics, her best years were thought already to have been run but then she took a 2:27 victory in the Hamburg Marathon in 2005. This year she stunned again with a Kenyan record over 5000m of 14:33.84 in Oslo in June, and then set a national 10,000m mark of 30:30.26 in Helsinki in August.

Kayoko Fukushi - a brave 10,000m run in Helsinki (Hasse Sjogren)Backing-up Masai's challenge will be her compatriot Rita Jeptoo, the Boston marathon champion this year (2:23:28) who has a half marathon best of 70:41 and for 20km, 1:07:47.

Former Kenyan Lornah Kiplagat, who now represents the Netherlands is in superb form. At the Dam to Dam (Ten Miles) race from Amsterdam to Zaandam on 17 September, Kiplagat won in 50:50, bettering her world's fastest ever clocking (22 Sep 2002) by four seconds. With a 1:03:54, 20km PB set in 2001, the 34-year-old is the 'real deal' on the roads having won major marathons in Osaka and Rotterdam. She is also the silver medallist from last year's World Half Marathon Championships, and is the reigning European Cross Country champion.

Former World record holder for the women's 3000m Steeplechase Justyna Bak is Poland's sole but top quality entrant, while in Adere's presumed absence Teyiba Erkesso, the 2004 World Cross Country short course bronze medallist should be Ethiopia's best bet for honours.

Constantina Tomescu wins World Half Marathon in Edmonton (Getty Images)And then we have a formidable line-up from Russia to consider. Olesya Syreva is an outstanding prospect, the University Games winner at 1500m, but she has no career credentials above 5000m. Irina Timofeyeva is the 2006 Paris Marathon champion, while interestingly another of the squad is Alina Ivanova. The 37-year-old won the World 10km Race Walking gold in Tokyo 1991 and with a late conversion to running took ninth in the 2004 World Half Marathon. She has a personal best of 2:25:34 for the marathon after coming seventh in London in 2001. She is also this year's Prague Marathon winner (2:29:20).

In a race which will be contested by athletes from 29 nations, the team battle should be between the Kenyans, Romanians, Japanese and Russians.---Chris Turner for the IAAF