Uganda’s national record holder in 1500m mens’ category, Ronald Musagala is set to lead Team Uganda’s quest for a rare victory in the World Cross country championships mixed relay.

 The mixed relay kicks off the action in Bathurst, New Wales, Australia on Saturday (18).  

Musagala who anchored Uganda to a fifth-place finish in the last edition in Aarhus, Denmark in 2019 and also formed part of the 2017 team, returns to the national squad to continue his leadership role. 

The Olympian has enjoyed a promising run of form lately and has looked sharp in the training camp at Kapchorwa’s Trinity Biblical Institute where he has been training alongside the likes of world and Olympic champions, Joshua Cheptegei, Jacob Kiplimo and Peruth Chemutai.

 The other squad members that will represent Uganda in the mixed relay category are the ever-reliable Abu Salim Mayanja, 2022 World University Cross Country participant knight Aciro, and supremely gifted Linda Chebet.

 Ugandans will hope that the quartet dominates the fierce competition from the start to finish on the medal hunt.

 However, the Musagalas must be cohesively tidy, tactical and pacey if they are to inspire Uganda to overpower the two title-winning teams – Ethiopia and Kenya – again going head-to-head and Australia’s home quartet seeking medal success on home soil.

 The east African powerhouses have claimed one title apiece since the introduction of the 4x2km relay at the 2017 championships in Kampala, Kenya beating Ethiopia and Turkey in that inaugural event and Ethiopia turning the tables to triumph ahead of Morocco and Kenya in Aarhus in 2019.

 Now they meet again with more star quality on their teams, but with some strong competition in Uganda looking to challenge them to top spot on the podium.

 A total of 15 teams are entered for the mixed relay in Bathurst, where two women and two men will each run a loop of around 2km – the first and last laps being slightly longer than the others – for each squad. 

 Racing in a man-woman-man-woman format, athletes will wear or carry a wristband that they will transfer to their teammates in the takeover zone.

 While Musagala a middle-distance runner leads Uganda’s sub-team, steeplechase specialists Mekides Abebe and Getnet Wale head the Ethiopian squad that will be seeking a successful defence of the nation’s gold gained four years ago. 

 Abebe, who won world steeplechase bronze in Oregon, and the world and Olympic fourth-place finisher Wale will be joined by world U20 1500m champion Birke Haylom and national 1500m champion Adehena Kasaye.

 A steeplechase specialist also leads the Kenyan squad. 

 World record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech has the benefit of experience, having anchored her team to mixed relay gold in Kampala. 

Chepkoech, who won the world steeplechase title in Doha in 2019, also finished seventh in the individual senior women’s race at the World Cross Country Championships that year in Aarhus.

 Meanwhile, the mixed relay is considered Australia’s biggest medal hope on home soil and the quartet features Olympic and world finalists. 

 Oliver Hoare reached the Olympic final in Tokyo and last year took the men’s 1500m title at the Commonwealth Games, while Abbey Caldwell also achieved medal success in Birmingham, finishing third in the women’s 1500m. 

 They team up with Olympic and world 1500m finalist Jessica Hull and Olympic seventh-place finisher Stewart McSweyn.

 A major medal winner also leads the US quartet as Emma Coburn, who won the world steeplechase title in 2017, returns to cross-country action for the first time since 2011. 

Joined by the in-form Heather MacLean, who recently won the mile at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Boston, plus Alec Basten and 2019 relay team member Jordan Mann, the quartet will be looking to go at least one better than the US finish in 2019 by claiming a podium place.

 It promises to be a tight race but in his interview with New Vision Musagala is optimistic that Uganda has the ability to beat anyone “because we have trained enough and been in this competition a couple of times to know what it takes to win.”

 The mixed relay (8km) will be followed by the junior women's (6km) and men's (8km) races.

 Thereafter, the senior women's and men's races (10km) will follow and finally, the medal-awarding ceremonies will sum up the one-day global event.