Of the four Irish teams entered for Sunday's European Cross Country Championships in Malmo, Sweden, the senior men are sure to face the most difficult challenge. The final entries announced yesterday show all but one of the previous men's champions will be toeing the start line for the seventh edition of the event.
Reigning champion and three-time winner Paulo Guerra of Portugal (1994, 1995 and 1999) is the strong favourite to regain his title, but the 1997 champion Carsten Jorgensen of Denmark has been showing some useful form already this season. Also in the mix will be the 1998 champion Sergiy Lebed of Ukraine. Throw in the strong challenge from the traditional cross country nations like Britain, Italy, France and Spain, and the Irish team are sure to have their work cut out. No Irishman has produced a top-10 finish since the first race in 1994.
This season, however, Seamus Power has displayed some encouraging, early-season form. Last month in Dungarvan, he claimed his sixth successive intercounty title and, at his best, the Clareman is certainly capable of mixing it with the leaders.
US-based Keith Kelly skipped that event, but if he can regain the sort of form that saw him take the American collegiate title last month, then he too will be looking for a top-10 position. Dublin's Peter Matthews and Antrim's Gareth Turnbull are likely to complete the Irish scoring.
The women's race, in contrast, is certain to provide a new European Champion as none of the previous winners are entered this year. So far the title has been won by six different runners from six different nations: Ireland's Catherina McKiernan, Annemari Sandell of Finland, Sara Wedlund of Sweden, Joalsiae Llado of France, Paula Radcliffe of Britain and, last year, Anita Weyermann from Switzerland.
The race for the title will almost certainly come from the three runners who finished immediately behind Weyermann last year: Romania's Constantina Dita, Yugoslavia's Olivera Jevtic and Liz Yelling of Britain. After her three straight bronze medals in the event, Jevtic will be seen as the favourite.
Irish hopes of a high team placing will lie with Anne Keenan-Buckley, Niamh Byrne and Rosemary Ryan. Keenan-Buckley had little trouble picking up the intercounty title for Laois last month, although Ryan, who missed that race through injury, certainly has the ability to sneak into the top-10.
The junior races are always the most difficult to predict, but the Irish men will be looking to repeat their bronze medal performance from Slovenia last year. Leading that challenge will be the Frazier brothers from Antrim, Thomas and John.
