POSTED: Friday December 12th 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Record number of athletes and countries set for Brussels this weekend

15th SPAR European Cross Country Championships

A record number of 482 athletes from a record number of 32 countries
have confirmed their entry for the 15th SPAR European Cross Country
Championships which take place in the beautiful Parc de Laeken in the
Belgian capital of Brussels this Sunday.



The competition which was first held in Alnwick in the north of England
in 1994 has grown from strength to strength since an initial field of
180 senior athletes lined up for the first edition of the championships.



Two years later, in 1996 in Charleroi, a junior men’s and women’s race
was introduced and two years ago in San Giorgio su Legnano in Italy the
U23 category was introduced with immediate success.



The record number of countries had previously been set in Malmo in
Sweden in 2000 when 31 countries participated and this year 32
countries will take part in the event.



Only one man has participated in every edition of the championships and
that is Sergey Lebid of Ukraine who is looking to defend his title with
his 8th victory on Sunday. He will be hard pressed by British number
one Mo Farah who won the title in 2006 but missed out last year due to
injury.



On the women’s side, four former champions will be running but it\‘s the
name of Russia\‘s Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion and world record
holder Gulnara Galkina-Samitova that has caught many people\‘s eye.



Finland\‘s Annemari Sandell-Hyvärinen, France\‘s Yamna Oubouhou, Great
Britain\‘s Hayley Yelling and the Ukraine\‘s Tatyana Holovchencko were
winners in 1995, 2001, 2004 and 2006 respectively and all of them are
looking to get back among the medals again.



The event will be covered by 18 broadcasters and shown in over 74 countries world wide.





For full breakdown of statistics click here:



http://www.european-athletics.

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Keywords · 15th SPAR European Cross Country Championships · Brussels · UK Athletics

Name: Chris Broadbent
Organization: UK Athletics
Email:
Phone: +44.7701.099763

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