Big fields assembled for European Athletics Cross Country Permit Meetings in Belgium & Serbia

For the 65th time, a large number of national and international runners meet in Hannut, central Belgium for the European Athletics Cross Country Permit Meeting, the Lotto Cross Cup this weekend.

The hosts will be led by Pieter Desmet, Tom Van Hooste and Veerle Dejaeghere, who will be acutely aware that a tough race is on the cards on the ‘plateau de la Hesbaye', where mud and wind traditionally makes the competition difficult.

Desmet and Dejaeghere currently lead the Lotto Cross cup rankings, but they expect strong opposition from the international fields.  

In the men's race eight Kenyans will start, while Joe Sweeney and Mark Christie (Ireland), Jan Foerster and Til Hoffmann (Germany), Stéphane Chopin (France), Urige Nuta and Trond Idland (Norway), Pascal Groben and Vincent Nothum (Luxemburg), Alexeï Gurkin (Russia) and last but not least, former European champion Paulo Guerra of Portugal, lead the charge of the Europeans.

Veerle Dejaeghere, the winner of last edition of the Iris Lotto Crosscup of Brussels, expects strong opposition in the form of Kenya's Linet Masai, a former World Junior cross Country Champion while the Dutch woman, Ilse Pol will look to be the best of the rest from a European point of view.

Also on this weekend is another European Athletics Cross Country Permit Meeting in Belgrade, Serbia where the Belikros (White Cross) has taken place since 1968.  

White, the symbol for snow is usually present at Kosutnjak sport centre, the site of the competition, although this years weather is forecasted at around 10 degrees so the course will not be white!

The event received European Athletics Permit status for the first time last year and the winners were Serbian, Sonja Stolic in the women's and Kemal Koyuncu from Turkey on the men's side.

Around 1000 runners from 10 countries will compete in all categories with the men competing over 8 km and women over the shorter distance of 4 km.  

Defending champion Stolic is running again this year, with her team mate, Bosnian Marathon record holder Lucia Kimani of Kenyan origin and Hungarian Livia Toth who is returning after pregnancy will hope to upset the form book.  

On the men's side the odds look to be stacked in favour of the Moldovans as Iaroslav Muschinski the Moldovan marathon record holder with 2:11:57 and the Moldavian steeplechase record holder Ion Luchianov have been installed as pre race favourites while Ukraine is represented by national championship medallist Leonid Rybak.

Source:

European Athletics Association