European Athletics will stream two major cross country events in the lead up to the Lagoa 2025 SPAR European Cross Country Championships on 14 December via the official YouTube channel.
The live action gets underway this Saturday (8) at the Cardiff Cross Challenge, a World Cross Country Tour Gold meeting.
Then, two weeks ahead of Lagoa, the International Warandecross Tilburg in the Netherlands, a World Cross Country Tour Silver meeting, will be streamed on the European Athletics YouTube channel on Sunday 30 November.
NOTE: The Sparkassen Cross Pforzheim in Germany, a World Cross Country Tour Silver meeting on Saturday (15) was also orginally planned for broadcast, but this has been cancelled now due to technical difficulties.
Here are some brief event previews:
Cardiff Cross Challenge, GBR, World Cross Country Tour Gold, Saturday 8 November
The home challenge will be led by European 10,000m bronze medallist Megan Keith, making her first cross country appearance in 22 months in the women’s 6.4km race.
The 23-year-old Scot is a prodigious talent on the mud, having won European U20 gold (Dublin 2021), European U23 silver (Turin 2022) and European U23 gold (Brussels 2023).
She also placed 10th in the 10,000m final at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships. Having missed last year’s winter season due to injury, she will be keen to return to top form in her first cross country race since January 2024.
Great Britain international teammates Cari Hughes, Kate Axford and Izzy Fry are also entered.
The big international challenges should come from Kenya’s Sheila Jebet, who was 5th over 5000m at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Denmark’s three-times European U20 track medallist and women's U20 bronze medallist at the Antalya 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships Sofia Thøgersen and former Canadian cross country champion Ceili McCabe.
The men’s 9.6km race features a cosmopolitan field including Irish cross country champion Keelan Kilrehill, Kenyan contenders Stephen Kimutai and Victor Kimosop, Morocco’s Osama Er Redaouni, who was 7th in the 3000m final at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships and Dutch internationals Nathan Houwaard and Jess Fokkenrood.
The one mile races which will double as trials for the mixed relays at the Lagoa 2025 SPAR European Cross Country Championships on 14 December include twice European U23 cross country champion Will Barnicoat and European indoor 1500m bronze medallist Revee Walcott-Nolan, entered for the men’s and women’s races respectively.
International Warandecross Tilburg, NED, World Cross Country Tour Silver meeting, Sunday 30 November
European 10,000m silver medallist Diana van Es, twice European U23 1500m champion Stefan Nillessen and former European indoor 3000m silver medallist Maureen Koster lead a striong home entry for Warandecross, which also doubles as the Dutch National Championships and trial for the Lagoa 2025 SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
The international entry includes three-times winner Sarah Lahti of Sweden, Hungary's Greta Vaga, European U20 3000m steeplechase silver medallist ans Austrian champion Cordula Lasacher.
Previous winners include Dutch heroes Sifan Hassan and Niels Laros, as well as 11-times World Cross Country Championships gold medallist Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia.