European Athletics (EAA) – News – Goodbye Albufeira, hello Velenje

The memories of the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal, on Sunday are still fresh but thoughts are already being cast forward to next year’s event being hosted by the Slovenian city of Velenje on 11 December next year.

Velenje will become only the second city to stage the event for a second time, after the back-to-back editions of 1994 and 1995, the first two years of the Championships, which were held in the north east of England town of Alnwick.

“We have already been in Slovenia for the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, back in 1999. I have got special memories of it because it was my first competition after being elected as the European Athletics President,” said Hansjörg Wirz, who recently celebrated his 11th anniversary as the head of the continental association.

“I am also convinced that many athletes who were there have got good memories because the local organisers made a big effort to prepare the course well. It was demanding, if you have seen pictures of that race I’m sure you would agree, so next year the track will be in a slightly different place.

“We hope that it not be quite as muddy as the last time the Championships were in Slovenia but if the same effort is made (by the local organisers) then I am sure we will have a great event.

“The last time I remember that there was a great response to the work done by the local organisers. The entire city of Velenje seemed to be on its legs and at the course. There were people there of all ages from school children upwards, it was a very impressive crowd supporting the athletes and the event, and I’m certain it will be the same next December. I am convinced that there will be another excellent SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Velenje,” added Wirz.

One of those ‘many athletes’ Wirz referred to is the Portuguese cross country icon Paulo Guerra, who won the third of his four SPAR European Cross Country Championships titles in Velenje.

Guerra was one of the Ambassadors of this year’s event in his home country and happy to reflect on the events of 1999 as well as look forward 12 months.

“I am sure that Velenje will stage a great championship next year. I have got lots of happy memories of running there in1999 because I was at the peak of my ability. I had won a bronze medal at the 1999 World Cross Country Championships earlier that year and in Velenje I defeated a lot of very good runners.

“My team mate Eduardo Henriques was running fantastically well that winter but I was able to put in a change of pace half way around the final lap and shake him off. (Henriques finished as the runner up, five seconds behind Guerra.) I beat a lot of other very good runners like Britain’s Jon Brown, who had run so well in 1996 to beat me into second place at the Championships that year in Belgium. Sergey Lebid was also there, having won the previous year, and we now know what he was going to do in the future.

“Velenje remains one of my favourite venues out of all the 10 SPAR Cross Country Championships that I ran in. It was a tough course there, for sure, but it was a proper cross country course and that suited me.”

“I’d love to go back there again and the runners that do go there next year, I am sure will enjoy themselves and have a great trip,” added Guerra.

In fact, Lebid finished eighth that year in the senior men’s race and the seemingly ageless Ukraine runner notched up his ninth title in Albufeira on Sunday. He will no doubt be wanting to continue his magnificent record of running in every SPAR European Cross Country Championships since they were established in 1994.

He will be 36 when Velenje stages the 2011 Championships, the 18th edition of the event.

By coincidence, Portugal’s Jessica Augusto also finished eighth when she ran in Velenje 11 years ago but in the junior women’s race.

Augusto was a outstanding champion in front of a delighted home crowd on Sunday, adding a senior women’s gold medal to the one she won as a junior in 2000, and next year will compete in her 12th SPAR European Cross Country Championships, assuming that she is able to defend her title in 12 months time.

 European Athletics (EAA9 – News –