Toro dignitaries press conference

Excerpts from a press conference ahead of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships given by Hansjorg Wirz (European Athletics President), Jose Maria Odriozola (Royal Spanish Athletics Federation President) and Jesus Andres Sedano (Mayor of Toro).

What does the Spanish federation want to achieve from these Championships?

JMO: This is a historic championship for Spain. For many years we've organised fantastic championships in other areas, including world championships in cross country, but it's never happened that the European Cross Country Championships were organised in my own country.

We have this fantastic circuit in Toro, which we've tested with the Spanish Championships twice, and now we are here…. and we've been lucky with the weather. Hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow (Sunday) although perhaps there will be a little fog in the morning because it's very near the Duero river.

The circuit is good, some people have said that it is too easy, but I think that it's not going to be so easy as I think that the grass might be tiring. However, it should be a fast race and with the Championships coming at the beginning of the cross country season I think it's an event that will be well-received by the athletes.

But at last we are hosting the event and Spain wants to host the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in the future at other venues.

How important is it to Toro to host an event like this?

JAS: I think it's obvious that these Championships are important for such a small city as Toro. They have caught the imagination of the whole population especially the children. The Toro Council have made a really big effort to implement and develop local interest in athletics and sport in general so we expect the Championships to have a big impact.

Do you think that the introduction of the Under-23 categories has been a success?

HW: Lets look back in time. First of all, the reason we started the European Cross Country Championships was that we offered cross country to the European nations again. We realised that at the World Championships they had been finishing in lower positions for a number of years and this was lowering motivation. The Championships were a success and continue to be, especially when we are thinking about how we show our sport on television.

The point then came when we thought, ‘what happens when juniors turn 20 or 21 and are then seniors?'. They are at the back of the field again so that was not motivating either and so we realised that we had to do something for the Under-23s. Last year we did something for the first time, not as a Championship race, although it was part of it, and introduced the Under-23 category. The success was quite big with good numbers participating. We are happy that there was a big improvement in participation overall and more athletes are motivated to compete in these Championships.

Some people, of course, will run in the Under-23 race rather than the seniors because they can have success but what was pleasing for us was that there was an increase in the overall numbers participating in the Championships. We have even more athletes this year and have implemented it as a Championship category, so that's got to be positive. Now we can look forward and discuss what is the best form for the Championships to take but for me that's a secondary matter because first you have to build the base. Some people when they look at the headlines of the newspapers on Monday may say, ‘there were less people in the senior men's and women's races this year' but I think it is important to build up the base, from the bottom to the top, and have more people competing in these Championships.

JMO: The rules also allow Under-23 runners, if they are good enough, to compete with the seniors but going from juniors straight to seniors is too tough for many people and the Under-23s need their own competition sometimes, like the European Athletics has on the track. It's a way for athletes and athletics to develop, especially in long distance running.

Will the SPAR European Cross Country Championships continue to be in December?

HW: Until now the Championships have always been in December but three years ago we asked our member federations if we should change the date. The response of the federations was half and half so we decided that, for the moment, we will stay in December. If we were to go later in the winter, and go closer to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, then we don't think that would be the best thing. If we were to stage these Championships in January or early February then we would exclude a large part of Europe from organising these Championships.

Every solution to this question has both positive and negative elements but we continue to look at it and how things develop. We think December is the right time for the moment but that does not mean it will be held in December forever. The world is changing and our sport is changing so things could be different in the future.

Source/Courtesy
European Athletics (EAA)
https://www.european-athletics.org/
EAA