Jose Luis Blanco is a have-a-go hero

Three Spanish supermarket smash-and-grab thieves ran out of luck when they crossed paths with José Luis Blanco, the 2006 European Championships 3000m steeplechase silver medallist.

Blanco chased down the fleeing robbers and recovered the stolen bags, before helping police with information that later led to the thieves being arrested.

Let's leave Blanco to tell his own version of events after spikesmag.com produced some nifty leg work of its own to catch up with the Spanish international in Jordan after last Saturday's IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

“I was on a training run in my home town of Lloret de Mar, which lots of people in Britain will know as it's a popular holiday destination about 100 kilometres north of Barcelona. I was out with my friend Quim [Arpi] and we were pushing it quite hard.

“As we passed a supermarket, three guys in their 20s came flying out and two of them had bags in their hands; one was a women's handbag and the other was like a rucksack. I immediately thought it looked strange but a moment later we could hear shouts from just inside the supermarket. One of those shouting was an older women, perhaps in her 60s, saying that her handbag had been stolen.

“We stopped but it only took a second to realise what had happened and then we started to chase the gang. They were running fast and must have had about 50 metres head start on us but it was quite easy to close the gap, even though we'd already run a kilometre or so, as we were well warmed up and had got into our stride.

“When we were about 10 metres from them we shouted, 'Police, drop the bags,' but they carried on running. That's when things started to get a bit hairy, they tried to cross a big main road with lots of traffic. We were weaving in and out of the cars, I think there were two lanes of traffic going in both directions. Us or them could have easily been hit, one of them almost was. We shouted that we were the police a second time but they carried on running so we got up right on their shoulder and told them again to drop the bags. At that point, the thieves finally flung the bags down and behind themselves.

“We took the bags back to the supermarket and then waited for the police to arrive. It was unbelievable, everyone was cheering. I've never heard applause like it, not even when I've won a race. I felt like Superman for a short time,” beamed the popular 33-year-old runner.

Last week, the day before he left for Amman to compete in his ninth consecutive IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where he came home in 62nd place, he was given a civic reception in Lloret de Mar for his bravery.

He also admitted that, in the heat of the moment, he hadn't given much thought to the fact that the robbers might be armed or have knives.

“Word had got out, the national newspapers had picked up the story, I don't know from where, and there were 11 different television stations at the presentation. I counted them, it was phenomenal. Spanish athletics meetings don't get that much coverage,” he joked.

However, it is not hard to work out that someone in the supermarket or the local police would have recognised that it was Blanco and his training partner who were the have-a-go heroes.

Blanco - whose surname name means white in Spanish – sports dyed blond hair to match his moniker and is well known locally after his exploits on the track in Gothenburg three years ago.

His ambitions for the summer are to put up a good showing at the World Championships in Berlin after failing to make the steeplechase final at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka and also last summer's Olympics in Beijing.

“Maybe travelling to Asia doesn't agree with me as I made the finals of the World Championships in 2003 and 2005, when they were held in Europe. The Africans are obviously going to be very tough to beat in my event but I'm aiming to be the leading European steeplechaser in Berlin,” he added.

Blanco's heroics brings back memories of the time when a less-than-savvy thief tried to lift a bag from Maurice Greene in Seville airport, on his arrival in the city just ahead of the 1999 World Championships there, and at a time when the American sprinter was reigning World 100m champion and world record holder over the distance.

Needless to say, the crook's getaway was quickly brought to an abrupt halt by the former ‘Fastest Man in The World.’