European Athletics (EAA) – News – Roeselare, Amora and Soria open the European Athletics cross country

The 2010-2011 season of European Athletics Cross Country Permit Races starts in spectacular fashion this weekend with events in Belgium, Portugal and Spain on Sunday.

With the countdown already begun and just three weeks to go, many of the runners at these three meetings will be using the races as a vital part of their preparation for this year’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships, which will be held in Albufeira, Portugal, on December 12.

The Lotto CrossCup van West-Vlaanderen Cross Country in the Belgian town of Roeselare could see a ferocious battle in the men’s race over 9.8km between local stars Jeroen D´Hoedt, last year’s European junior men’s cross country champion,  and  Atelaw Bekele, third in the under 23 race in Dublin just under 12 months ago.

Also on the start line of the traditionally testing and muddy course will be Belgian internationals Pieter Desmet and Tom Van Hooste, who have both placed in the top 10 of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

Desmet, now 27 and the 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships 3000m steeplechase bronze medallist, placed fifth in front of his friends and family in Brussels two years ago, while the 38-year-old  near-veteran Van Hooste had four top 10 finishes between 2000 and 2005, just missing out on a medal when he finished fourth in 2003.

In the women’s 6.67km race the favourite will be the Ethiopian-born Belgian resident Almensh Belete, the current Belgian 1500m champion.

The  XXI Corta Mato Cidade De Amora – Cross International in Portugal sees Hungary’s former SPAR European Cross Country Championships junior men’s and under 23 champion Barnabás Bene in action over 8km.

Bene was twice a winner as a junior in 2004 and 2005 and then took his third gold medal the following year after moving up a category. Now 24, he is looking to do better when he returns to Portugal in three weeks time after a disappointing 57th place in his first outing as a senior at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in 2009.

Poland´s Bartosz Nowicki, the 2003 European Athletics Junior Championships 1500m champion should be Bene’s main rival and the hard and fast course could suit the Pole.

Slovenia’s Sonja Roman is the big name among the women who will compete over 5km in Amora, which can be found on the map near Setubal.

Now 31, the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships 1500m bronze medallist was an outstanding cross country runner as a teenager, finishing sixth and then seventh as a junior at the 1997 and 1998 SPAR European Cross Country Championships but in recent years she has generally concentrated on running indoors rather than out in the open.

However, she is now extending her range, having also won the Slovenian national 10km title on the roads last month, and has returned to cross country running in earnest.

Ukraine’s Vitktoriya Pohoryelska, now 20, but 10^th as a junior at the 2008 SPAR European Cross Country Championships before slipping back to 20^th last year in Dublin, looks likely to be Roman’s main challenger.

The meeting will also be the selection race for the Portuguese junior and under 23 teams that will compete on home soil at this year’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

The XVII Cross Internacional de Soria in Spain on November 21 has scored a major coup by signing up Kenya’s Joseph Ebuya for the men’s 10km but, as always, there is a strong contingent of Spanish runners ready to challenge the top Africans.

Ayad Lamdassem, fifth at the 2009 SPAR European Cross Country Championships and part of the victorious Spanish senior men’s team in Dublin, should be in the fray while Jesus España, the 2006 European Athletics Championships 5000m champion and a silver medallist this summer over the same distance in Barcelona, is also among the starters.

Italy’s Andrea Lalli, a European cross country champion as a junior in 2006 and then a gold medallist in the under 23 category two years ago, will make his 2010 cross country debut in Soria after returning recently from an extended training stint in Kenya.

Another interesting entry is Spain’s 2010 European Athletics Championships 1500m champion Arturo Casado, who has said that he will run a lot more cross country races this winter.

The women’s 8km race has Spain’s Rosa Morató, last year’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships senior women’s silver medallist, in the field along with Portugal’s Ana Dias.

There will also be a lot of interest in the junior races as well with Italy having sent some of its top young distance runners across the Mediterranean to get a top class competitive opportunity.

Francois Marzetta, 19, is in the junior men’s 6km race. He was 24th in Dublin but has improved considerably this summer and came home sixth in the 3000m steeplechase at the World Junior Championships in July.

Federica Bevilacqua is in the junior women’s race over 4km. The 19-year-old from Trieste was fifth in the junior race at the 2009 SPAR European Cross Country Championships and is still eligible to run in the same category in Albufeira.

Both Marzetta and Bevilacqua have the credentials to be among the medal contenders at this year’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships.