European Athletics – (EAA) – News – The Netherlands’ Herzog gets her autumn road race hat-trick

Adrienne Herzog, the 2009 SPAR Cross Country Championships bronze medallist, has been sharpening up for this year’s Championships on the roads in Spain and the Dutch runner showed that she is moving into form with a good win at the XVI Carrera Popular Costa de Ajo, in the north of the country, on Sunday.

Herzog covered the 2.7km course in 8:33, holding off a host of local internationals and African runners for her third triumph in Spain’s highly competitive short road races in the past two months.

“The European Cross Country Championships are almost here, exactly one month to go until the gun goes in the Algarve in Portugal. I’m on schedule, everything is going according to plan,” said Herzog, who has been almost permanently based in Madrid since 2009.

She plans to have her first cross country outing of the winter next weekend, three weeks in advance of the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships which will be held in Albufeira, Portugal, on December 12.

“I feel privileged that I can do my European Cross Country Championships preparation here (in Spain) and really think I'm ahead of the northern countries where people struggle with cold and snow. Injuries lurk in wet and cold weather but the sun here is a source of energy and recovery,” she added.

“My disappointing summer has made me terribly hungry. The Spanish heat, my wonderful coach (Manuel Pascua), a very knowledgeable Spanish professional training group has provided me with the perfect conditions for excellent preparation.”

Pascua, who is also the coach of 2010 European Athletics Championships women’s 1500 metres champion Nuria Fernandez, was chosen to receive an inscribed award at the recent European Athletics Awards Night Gala as a representative of all 56 coaches who guided their athletes to success in Barcelona this summer and whose names were added to the inaugural European Athletics Coaches Roll of Honour.

Herzog, who also won the 2007 SPAR European Cross Country Championships under 23 silver medal, decided not compete in Barcelona after she unfortunately discovered a minor blood disorder earlier in the summer.

“After Hengelo (the famous IAAF World Challenge meeting in The Netherlands), I got my blood test done and it showed some small health problems, which explained my not feeling fit and struggling in races. Although I bounced back and got my training back on track, I don't think I quite regained my physical energy from the month before,” reflected Herzog in September shortly after she resumed training.

However, now it seems that she has boundless energy and is bidding for her third place on a podium at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

European Athletics – (EAA) – News