All Lite on the night for Meadowbank

Scottish capital for the Miller Lite IAC International at Meadowbank.

Six current Olympic champions and four world record-holders are in the

starting lists -- Kenya's John Ngugi, the 5000m champion in Seoul came

into the line-up yesterday -- and if the weather holds, the Edinburgh

stadium, constructed for the 1970 Commonwealth Games, could see its

greatest night.

It is the second successive year that Edinburgh has staged a Grand

Prix meeting, and if all goes well tonight, it will be booked quickly

for similar recognition next year.

Meadowbank seems to have been dogged by ill-fortune this decade. The

African boycott all but ruined the 1986 Commonwealth Games, the Dairy

Crest international meeting was marred by an anti-apartheid demonstrator

trying to push Zola Budd off the track, and although last year's Miller

Lite meeting was a resounding success, poor weather prevented any

significant times on the track.

Tonight, more than a handful of Scottish all-comers records will come

under threat. A fast 800m is in prospect, especially since Tom McKean

came close to his Scottish record in Stockholm on Monday night. Although

Olympic champion Paul Ereng is out of the race, the presence of the

other Kenyan star, Robert Kibet, along with American Johnny Gray and

Brazil's Jose Luis Barbosa, will bring out the best in the Scot.

And there has been a new twist to the saga involving Ereng and his

compatriot Yobes Ondieki, who both failed to turn up for the Edinburgh

press conference on Wednesday. David Bedford, organiser of the meeting,

revealed yesterday that the two athletes had sacked their Dutch-based

manager, Raymond De Vries.

Along with Ngugi, who telephoned Bedford yesterday to offer his

services, three other Kenyans were added -- Joseph Chesire in the mile,

Nixon Kiprotich, a finalist in the 800m in Seoul, and Rose Tata, also in

the 800m.

One of the oldest Scottish all-comers' records is the 45.01sec of the

400m which was set by another Kenyan, Charles Asati, at the 1970

Commonwealth Games. Even world record-holder Butch Reynolds failed to

lower that last year in the unhelpful conditions, and tonight,

20-year-old American Steve Lewis, who upstaged Reynolds by taking the

Olympic gold in Seoul, will try to set a new mark.

Another of America's Olympic champions, Roger Kingdom, faces world

champion Greg Foster in the high hurdles and much focus will be on the

classic confrontation in the mile between Said Aouita, who had such a

disappointing Olympics, and Peter Rono, who won the 1500m in Seoul.

Although the track events will command much of the attention, the

field line-up is second to none. Bedford has assembled the top four

finishers in the discus in Seoul, headed by East German Jurgen Schult.

The Olympic shot putt champion Natalya Lisovskaya, from the Soviet

Union, also is competing, as is the greatest hammer-thrower in history,

Yuriy Sedykh.

Scotland's Yvonne Murray and Liz McColgan attack good times in the

1500m and 3000m respectively, and Linford Christie chases Pietro

Mennea's world record at the unusual distance of 150m late in the

evening. Field action starts with Sedykh in the hammer at 5.30pm and the

first track event is the women's 100m at 7.25pm.

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