9th December 2011 07:17
European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz has hailed the annual SPAR European Cross Country Championships as being instrumental in helping enhance the quality of distance running on the continent.
Speaking on the eve of the 18th edition of the Championships in the Slovenian city of Velenje, Wirz said, “The idea behind starting this annual pan-European competition in 1994 was to address what we viewed as a decline in the interest in cross country running on the continent and to help improve the standard of distance running across Europe.
“European Athletics, along with its Member Federations, has been conscientiously working on addressing this situation in the last decade and even further back and judging by the increasing numbers in terms of participation at these Championships and the quality of performances shown by the runners in recent years, I believe very strongly that our efforts are bearing fruit.
“It gave me great pleasure when fans of athletics from around the world recently voted for a distance runner, Great Britain's Mo Farah, as our 2011 European Athlete of the Year.”
Farah, who won the men’s 5,000m gold and silver in the 10,000m at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu in August, first came to international attention when he competed as a 16-year-old at the 1999 SPAR European Cross Country Championships, the last time Velenje staged the event.
He showed prodigious signs of his immense talent when he finished fifth in the junior men's race and led his country to the team title.
His first international title in the senior ranks came when he won the men’s crown at the 2006 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy.
“Farah’s exploits in Daegu are a testimony to the fact that cross country is the ultimate foundation for any serious runner. He is a product of the system that we have been trying to build on the continent and an example to the next generation of European distance runners,” said President Wirz.
The golden generation of European middle distance runners in the 1980s, including the likes of Great Britain's Sebastian Coe, Steve Cram and Steve Ovett as well as Spain's José Manuel Abascal and José Luís González, have all attributed some part of their success to their involvement in cross country running.
“Cross country is a truly pan-European sport, you can see this by the fact that over half our Member Federations have won medals at the Championships, and is a vital one because it’s a major contributor to the development of distance runners on the track. African athletes and coaches have long understood this fact and many European coaches need to return to this philosophy,” said President Wirz.
The SPAR European Cross Country Championships enables athletes at junior, under 23 and senior level to compete annually against the best of their counterparts from across the continent.
“We try our best to provide the best locations, best facilities and running conditions to our athletes at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships,” said President Wirz.
“We have also been successful in developing a cross country permit series in Europe, which features eight races this season, to offer more and more opportunities to our athletes.
“I am very optimistic that in Velenje we will see the benefits of our permit series demonstrated and in particular how these races have helped in prepare runners for these Championships.”