Both men's and women's teams travel to Leiria in Portugal this weekend to compete in the European Cup First League. Having being promoted in both competitions last year Ireland will be hoping to retain their first division status. In the women's competition Ireland have Belgium, Netherlands, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Serbia & Montenegro, Portugal and Belarus for opposition whilst the men will be opposed by teams from Romania, Portugal, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine and Serbia & Montenegro. The quality of the opposition will provide an ideal opportunity for athletes seeking World Championships standards to achieve them. Amongst those will be Eileen O’Keeffe who will be seeking to improve on her recent 67.03m mark in the hammer. Maria McCambridge ran 8:59.23 for 3000 metres in Santry on Wednesday and with Paula Radcliffe for opposition in the 5000 a sluggish pace should not be a problem. Derval O’Rourke has had some promising early season runs and Anna Boyle’s progess in the 100 and 200 will be watched with interest. David Gillick should feature in the 400 metres and Paul Hession is another man in search of a Helsinki standard. James Nolan moves up to 3000 metres and Martin Fagan makes his European Cup debut at 5000. Other newcomers to this level of competition include Thomas Chamney in the 800 and Liam Reale in the 1500. Antoine Burke is nominated for the 400 hurdles and Gary Ryan adds his experience to the team in the 100 metres. Updates on the competition will be available on www.fpatletismo.pt