AUSTRALIA’S Melbourne Cup is often described as ‘the race that stops a nation’, but tomorrow that mantle will pass to the 30th running of the Bupa Great North Run.

Bizarrely, though, the nation in question will be Ethiopia.

For the first time ever, Ethiopian television will present live coverage of the world’s biggest halfmarathon, from Newcastle to South Shields, and more than 11m viewers are expected to tune in to watch.

Why? Because their country’s greatest ever sportsman, Heile Gebrselassie, will be making his maiden appearance in the Tyneside classic.

In this country, football’s World Cup is one of the few sporting events able to bring the country together in a state of fevered anticipation. In Ethiopia, former world and Olympic champion Gebrselassie can generate similar excitement on his own.

“Running in Ethiopia is like soccer is here in England,”

said the 37-year-old, who is regularly described as the greatest distance runner of all time, thanks to a career that has seen him break 26 world records.

“The popularity and interest is the same. In Ethiopia, people are always looking for the results of all the big races.

The interest over there is crazy.

“I don’t think of myself as a famous person or anything like that, but people do take an interest in what I am doing.

“I don’t do any training in Addis Ababa any more – I do my training outside. When I train, people shout at me and call out my name all the time.

“In the city, it is hard for me to run. Many people recognise me, so it is hard to get on with my work. It is probably like being a soccer player in England.

I’m not sure if it’s quite the same as being David Beckham, but maybe it’s something like that.”

Gebrselassie’s standing in his native Ethiopia reflects the extent of his achievements since he won his first major medal at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart.

He has claimed eight world championship titles, both indoors and outdoors, and two Olympic gold medals, but tomorrow’s outing will be his first appearance in the Great North Run.

He was supposed to race in 2000, only for an Achilles injury, sustained during the final of the Olympic 10,000m, when he beat Paul Tergat in one of the most thrilling longdistance finishes of all time, to scupper his hopes of competing in the North-East. As a result, the Great North Run crown is one of the few major titles missing from his CV.

He is determined to put that right tomorrow, but will have to beat an impressive field that includes two-time world marathon champion Jaouad Gharib, world half-marathon bronze medallist Dathan Ritzenhein and European marathon silver medallist Jose Manuel Martinez.

“There is pressure on me, I accept that,” said Gebrselassie.

“I am not hiding from that fact. This is a race I have wanted to compete in for years, and people want to watch me. It is important for myself to win the race because I have waited so long to take part in it.”

The veteran will fulfill another ambition later this year by competing in his maiden New York Marathon, but his biggest remaining target is an appearance at the 2012 Olympics in London.

The Games would provide the perfect swansong to his career, but the strength of Ethiopian running means that merely securing a qualifying place could be beyond him.

“It is a massive ambition to compete in 2012,” said Gebrselassie.

“I hope I am one of the names there. That would mean a lot to me, but it will not be easy.

“I have to qualify first, and because of all the competition in Ethiopia, that will not be easy. To be in the top three in Ethiopia is hard. In many ways, qualifying for the team will be even harder than doing well in London.”

Gebrselassie might not be the only person to suffer at the hands of Ethiopia’s new generation of long-distance runners, as the world marathon record holder has sounded a word of warning to Mo Farah, Britain’s newly-crowned European champion at 5,000m and 10,000m.

“He is a good athlete,” he said. “But the question is, ‘Is he good enough to beat the Kenyans and Ethiopians?’ And it is not just them now.

You have African runners running for Qatar and countries like that. The chances are getting smaller and smaller.

“It is not easy for him, because people expect something.

They will put a lot of pressure on him. What is important for this athlete, Farah, is to train seriously with the Kenyans and Ethiopians. That is the only way he will improve.”