LEMONCELLO CARRIES BRITISH HOPES INTO WORLD CROSS
By David Monti
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission

EDINBURGH (28-Mar) -- It's not often that a major world championship comes to
Great Britain, seemingly a prime opportunity for the host country's best
athlete's to shine. However, only a handful of Britain's best have answered the call
to run for Queen and country, and an athlete with an American father and a
Scottish mother who works part-time at a restaurant in Flagstaff, Ariz., will be
the U.K.'s top man when the gun sounds for the senior men's 12 km race here on
Sunday afternoon.

Andrew Lemoncello, a talented steeplechaser who starred at Florida State
University and won the ACC indoor titles at 3000m and 5000m last year, is excited to
compete in Holyrood Park. Rooming with Irishman Martin Fagan in high altitude
Flagstaff where he is coached by American Greg McMillan, Lemoncello has come
through a snowy winter with some solid training under his belt.

"Things have gone well in the winter," he told the press here today,
emphasizing that he hadn't done much running on the grass. "In Flagstaff we've been
under snow for the last three months. I've been trying to get used to it again."

Lemoncello is an unlikely team leader, given that compatriot Mo Farah was the
European Cross Country champion in 2006 and currently Britain's top distance
runner. But he has decided to bypass the meet, and Lemoncello looked a little
disappointed that the home team was a bit weak.

"Yeah, it could be a lot stronger," he said of the British team. "It's a shame
when we have a major meet at home." He added: "I see this as a major event."

The local organizing committee, led by Geoff Wightman, said that it was their
job to put on a technically sound event and promote it to the public, but they
don't pick the team. "The selection of the team isn't our responsibility," he
said.

Lemoncello, who has a steeplechase personal best of 8:23.74 set last summer,
and plans to run for Britain in the Beijing Olympics in that event, sees this
competition as a stepping stone to his ultimate goal of becoming a marathoner.
He's seen the impressive marathon performances by the younger Americans like Ryan
Hall and Dathan Ritzenhein, and wants to run the marathon in the London
Olympics in 2012.

"I've seen a lot of success with guys in the States," he said. "You don't have
to wait (to run your first marathon). I want to get more half-marathons under
my belt this year."

At the 3M Half-Marathon in Austin last January, Lemoncello ran a personal best
63:13 on a downhill course, finishing second behind Moroccan Ridouane Harroufi
by just one second. He said that he's always responded better to longer
distance training, and that the marathon would ultimately be his best event. His
Flagstaff roommate Fagan made his marathon debut earlier this year in Dubai,
running 2:14:06 and cinching a spot for the Beijing Olympics.

Lemoncello could later decide to run for the USA because he already holds an
American passport. But that thought was far from his mind as Sunday's race
approached.

"Scotland is where my heart lies," he said.