With just over 30 days to go before this year’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Dublin, UK Athletics preparations are well under way for the event.

The UKA Endurance team, headed by Senior Coordinator for Endurance, Spencer Barden, conducted a site visit at the Santry Demesne course in early September for a full logistics check on the event and more importantly, to get a feel for the course itself.

The conditions in Santry will be very similar to that in Britain, which will be a huge help to the United Kingdom team and Ian Stewart MBE, Head of Endurance for UKA, is happy with how it is all shaping up.

“The Santry Demesne course is a typical British Cross Country Course but it is all weather dependent. With rain it will be tough but our team will be used to those conditions,” Stewart said.

With the UKA trials for the European Cross Country taking place in Liverpool on the 28th November, Stewart is confident with the strength of team they can produce for Dublin.

“We are making real strides in endurance running. We now have great strength in depth and you could see that with the performances in Berlin at the World Championships and we will be sending our strongest possible team to Dublin. The trials worked very well for us last year and we hope to repeat that again,” he went on to say.

Stewart was brought in by UKA to revive distance running and he is beginning to see a bright future for the discipline.

“It is important to get the whole area of endurance moving in the right direction and we have done that. The Euro Cross is the start to our season and it couldn’t be a better start being so close to us and with the facilities and structures put in place by Athletics Ireland we would be confident of a strong performance in Dublin,” Stewart said.

The SPAR European Cross Country Championships will be held in Ireland for the first time when the event takes place in Santry Demesne, Dublin on the 13th December.

The event which is being hosted by Athletics Ireland is supported by the Irish Sports Council, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, RTÉ, Clonliffe Harriers and Failte Ireland. For more information go to www.dublin2009.ie

Don’t forget to avail of the special rate available for all members of Athletics Ireland. There is a half price adult rate available of €10 (full price is €20) and all Juvenile members go FREE! Please note the adult special offer ends Monday the 7th of December

If you would like to avail of this adult special price please log
onto: Ticketmaster