Serhiy Lebid Wins SPAR Race

Serhiy Lebid already has a reputation for being the greatest cross-country runner to ever issue forth from Europe. Now he’s proved it yet again after winning the SPAR European Cross Country senior men’s title for the eighth time.

Ukrainian long-distance runner Serhiy Lebid notched up his eighth SPAR European Cross Country title recently when he pulled ahead of Mo Farah (Great Britain) just 500 meters before the finish line. According to Lebid, this was probably his hardest victory to date. He said: “I think this was maybe my hardest victory. I was only convinced I could win a few hundred meters from the line although I felt very much in control over the last two laps (a distance of 3 000 m) when Farah was pushing hard.” Lebid also noted that his plan was to try to get to the head of the pack near the beginning of the last lap of the race, but Farah had been running so strongly that he was unable to do so. Fortunately for Lebid, his chance finally came near the end when his carefully reserved energy was put to good use for the final sprint to the finish line.

At just 33 years of age, Lebid is no where near the end of his career. Yet he has got so many medals that it hardly seems there is much left out there to keep him adequately challenged. Nevertheless, the long-distance runner seems determined to continue, not only running in top-end events, but in winning more medals. He said: “I put all my gold medals on the wall of a room in my house and there is still a little space left. I’ve run in all 15 of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships and I want to continue for as long as I can. I’m still only 33 and I think I have a few more years at the top level.” Lebid also remarked that he just loved running the challenge and that, since there is no prize money, it is certainly not for material gain. He added that the appeal of the event seems to increase with each passing year. Certainly it seems that the world has not seen the end of this great Ukrainian runner yet.