A leading number of the continent's distance runners will begin the New Year with a tough challenge when they take part in the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country as part of 'Team Europe'.
The event, staged at the picturesque setting of Holyrood Park in Scotland's capital, takes place on Saturday 5 January.
It is the annual international match between Britain, Europe and the USA -- with a formalised European team selected by European Athletics for the first time -- and for Fionnuala Britton, another outstanding opportunity to add to her brilliant record on the terrain.
This month Irishwoman Britton successfully defended her SPAR European Cross Country Championships crown in Budapest and she is back in Edinburgh looking to repeat her victory of 12 months ago.
It will be the same in the men's race, where Ayad Lamdassem, of Spain, will be seeking a second successive victory. But he will have tough opposition, including Sergiy Lebid, of the Ukraine, the nine-times European Cross Country champion.
One of the beauties of this event is that not only is the course tough, with a series of difficult hills and tricky descents, but the time of year brings other barriers to overcome, such as snow, which can be tough to tackle.
Britton won the 6km race in 21.32 last year, beating Britons Gemma Steel and Elle Baker.
Andy Caine, the meeting's elite athletes manager, said: 'Fionnuala ran another fantastic race (in Hungary) to clinch a second successive gold medal.
'After that victory she immediately confirmed her availability for Edinburgh and that sends out a clear message she is determined to be just as hungry for another win, whatever the conditions may be like.'
A year ago Lamdassem won the men's race in 25.44, beating Bobby Mack, of the USA with Atelaw Bekele, of Belgium, third.
It will be another good test for Lamdassem, though, as he failed to make an impression in Hungary and will be facing, among others, Hassan Chahdi, of France, who was second at the European Cross, while Lebid can never be ruled out.
Last year Britain won the match with 144 points from USA with 196 and Europe with 215.
This year's European teams are:
MEN
Senior: Hassan Chahdi (France), Carles Castillejo Salvador (Spain), Ayad Lamdassem (Spain), Abdi Bishir (Belgium), Milan Kocourek (Czech Republic), Sergiy Lebid (UKR)
Under-23: Jesper Van Der Wielen (Netherlands), Romain Collenot-Spiret (France), Antonio Abadia Beci (Spain), Abdelaziz Merzoughi (Spain), Orjan Gronnevig (Norway), Abdi-Hakin Ulad (Denmark).
Junior: Isaac Kimeli (Belgium), Alexandre Saddedine (France), Dino Bosnjak (Croatia), Mikhail Strelkov (Russia), Johannes Motschmann (Germany), 6th member tbc
WOMEN
Senior: Fionnuala Britton (Ireland), Ana-Dulce Felix (Portugal), Adrienne Herzog (Netherlands), Sophie Duarte (France), Linda Byrne (Ireland), Lisa Christina Stublic (Croatia).
Under 23: Liudmila Lebedeva (Ukraine), Clemence Calvin (France), Gulshat Fazlitdinova (Russia), Carla Rocha (Portugal), Ekaterina Matiunina (Russia), Viktoria Pogorielska (Ukraine).
Junior: Maya Rehberg (Germany), Mariia Khodakivska (Ukraine), Oona Kettunen (Finland), Agnes Sjostrom (Sweden), Anna Gehring (Germany), Heidi Maartensson (Norway).