Tipperary native Liam Hennessy is playing a key role in bringing the first major European athletics event to Ireland when the SPAR European Cross Country Championships takes place next month. Hennessy, who hails from Tipperary town, was the one who originally came up with the concept of Ireland hosting the event when he was the Chair of the High Performance Committee for Athletics Ireland. He is now the Event Director for the European Cross Country and with the event just a few weeks away it is the culmination of three years of hard work to bring Europe’s cross country showpiece to Ireland.

Hennessy’s passion for athletics began when he became a member of Tipperary Town Athletics Club, where he started off running in sprints. A year later he was taking part in the Tailteann Games in Croke Park. He went on move on to middle distance where admittedly his best performance came when he came 4th in the 5,000m at Senior Championships in 1972.

However when he was just 16, Hennessy became secretary of Tipperary Town AC and it was here he found his calling within sports administration. After gaining several years of experience within the club structure Hennessy went forward for positions on the County board. Acting as secretary and PRO , his new ideas and approaches were embraced by the county board

From here he went on to join the national sub-committee for course selection in 1976 and moved on to the BLE (who joined with NACAI to form Athletics Ireland) management committee two years later. Hennessy also had periods as National and International secretary for Athletics Ireland before taking up his current position of President in 2008. He also was Irish Olympic Team manager in 1980 and the Irish Cross Country Team manager from 1981-1985. A self confessed statistician, Hennessy also established Ireland’s first men’s and women’s athletics ranking lists in 1980 and is also a member of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians.

A dedication of over 40 years to Irish athletics was coupled with a similar one to his former employer Eircom with whom he spent his career. Hennessy has retired in recent years and this gave him the opportunity to concentrate fully on his role as Event Director for the European Cross Country Championships.

This is the first time Ireland has held a top European athletics event and Hennessy is delighted to be a part of what will be a great day for Irish sport. “The event has taken up a huge amount of time for all involved within the Local Organising Committee but I think what helps is that everyone has a passion for athletics. The team we have put together are all experts in their field and this coupled with their love of the sport I think has meant we are getting so much more. Everyone wants this to be a great event for Irish sport,” Hennessy said.

Ireland has hosted two World Cross Country Championships in 1979, when John Treacy famously won, and in 2002, but as far as Hennessy is concerned the goalposts have now shifted significantly. “Even since we held the event in 2002 then bar has been raised a lot. The standards have increased ten fold and we have to match those and hopefully exceed them. It does bring with it a lot of responsibility and you spend a lot of time worrying about every little thing, it has been a huge learning curve for everyone. The team we has been excellent, they are not coming to me with problems but coming to me with solutions! All we want is to see a great event and great day for Irish sport on December 13th and hopefully a few medals too.”

The SPAR European Cross Country Championships will take place in Ireland for the first time on the 13th December in Santry Park, Dublin. For more information and regular updates on the event and to sign up to the mailing list for the SPAR European Cross Country Championships then log on to www.Dublin2009.ie.

Athletics Ireland is supported nationally in running this event by the Irish Sports Council, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, RTÉ, Failte Ireland and Clonliffe Harriers. Tickets for the event can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.ie