European XC thread - Belgrade

ecoli

Little discussion bar the selection process.

Britton will be the focal attraction of the general Irish audience as she looks to make it a hat trick. Biggest threats? Beaten by Duarte at the weekend however I reckon that over the longer distance Briton should be able to come good. Hassan I reckon will be the biggest threat after a solid performance at the weekend beating Felix by nearly 20 seconds not to mention Gemma Steele who has been going very well over the longer distances this year. Add the fact that Belgrade should be a faster course suiting more speed based runners Britton could find it tough.

Pollock is talking about challenging for the win but can he compete with Belete who has to be one of the firm favourites.

Also Shane Quinn or Robinson. Can they challenge for a medal?

Team wise I think the Mens Senior team looks strongest on paper and will be interested to see if they are able to produce something big though they will have it tough as the French team looks very strong.

pconn062

I am a huge fan of Britton and would love to see her take the win again, I think the weekend was just a blip and I think she can come good again on the day.

I think Pollock has the ability for a top ten finish, and even higher depending on the day. I also think Robinson is a really good bet for a top 5 finish.

Team wise, I can't really see either challenging to be fair, the men definitely are the stronger one and again, maybe on the day can pull out a strong performance. Looking forward to it anyway!

speedster1993

Who's Belete, isn't she in the women's? Bezabeh will win the men's race. Fionnuala should medal but people really shouldn't be expecting a gold again, although she definitely has a live chance.

thirstywork2

Men's U23 strongest team and hopefully Robinson can medal.
Alot of debate about selections.....& no womens U23'S going.

ecoli

speedster1993 wrote: »

Who's Belete, isn't she in the women's? Bezabeh will win the men's race. Fionnuala should medal but people really shouldn't be expecting a gold again, although she definitely has a live chance.

Whoops for some reason I was thinking Bekele (2011 XC champ) when reading race reports over the weekend and mixed up though he had come back into form

Middle Distance

Hassan is running in the Women U23 race so Fionnuala won't have her to contend with!

eldiva

thirstywork2 wrote: »

Men's U23 strongest team and hopefully Robinson can medal.
Alot of debate about selections.....& no womens U23'S going.

Agree with that. Hopefully Robinson can be top 5 or even medal, but good runs by Quinn and Travers could put them in a decent place

runjb

http://sportsnewsireland.com/olympics2016/athletics-sarah-mccormack-out-of-european-cross-country-championships-due-injury-2013-12-02/

Sarah McCormack out for Sunday! Disappointing for her.

runjb

Final entries up:

http://www.european-athletics.org/mm/Document/EventsMeetings/General/01/27/10/70/EXCH2013-FinalEntriesLists_Neutral.pdf

emerald007

Good to see RTE covering this on Sunday from 12 until 2.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2013/0320/377548-world-cross-country-live-on-rte-sport/

pconn062

So who are your picks for the weekend? I'm mulling mine over now.

speedster1993

Some chat, previews and predictions for the irish team and the races themselves are here. Think it's going to be a lot harder for Britton this year.
https://soundcloud.com/jumpingthegunie/european-cross-country-preview

pa4

I think Britton will have her work cut out for her to retain the title again this year (as opposed to the last 2 years), still wouldn't be too surprised if she did win.. Its going to be some race! It'll be interesting to see how Paul Robinson fairs over the XC too, he should be well capable of a top 10 finish and maybe even scrape into the top 3.

morceli

I think Britton is coming into form at the right time but will be a big ask to make it 3 in a row, but think this could be an epic race and wouldnt bet against her. Cant wait for this over the weekend.

I fancy Pollock for a good run don't think he'll win it but could place well inside the top 10 with an outside shot of a medal. The rest of the team could be close 2x Mulhare and mcarthy are all capable of a top 20 if all goes well on the day. If they can place well who knows a shot at a team medal.

litmanen22

I'd have Pollock Mc Carthy in the top 20 with Mulhares in the 30's. Britton in top 3. Obviously with Duarte beating her in the previous race you have to imagine she'd be the favourite.
U 23 I mean I can't see past Ingibrittsen but Robinson def top 3. Travers and Quinn could def be top 20. But you just never know with the NCAA lads. I agree that this is one of our best chances of a medal. again a shocking decision not to send Mary Mulhare but that's fr another day.
However I do think that the junior men could surprise in a big way. 2 lads who have run 3:45 along with some of the best and deepest talent in years. This could def be one to watch. Really looking forward to seeing how Tobin goes. I think top 10 and possibly top 5 is on the cards.
Don't nkow enough bout the junior women but i think we can all be confident that Siofra CB is a phenomenal talent over both track and country. Cannot wait to see how a 2:03 junior does over the country. It'll def be interesting. Bring on the athletics!!

ecoli

litmanen22 wrote: »

I'd have Pollock Mc Carthy in the top 20 with Mulhares in the 30's. Britton in top 3. Obviously with Duarte beating her in the previous race you have to imagine she'd be the favourite.
U 23 I mean I can't see past Ingibrittsen but Robinson def top 3. Travers and Quinn could def be top 20. But you just never know with the NCAA lads. I agree that this is one of our best chances of a medal. again a shocking decision not to send Mary Mulhare but that's fr another day.
However I do think that the junior men could surprise in a big way. 2 lads who have run 3:45 along with some of the best and deepest talent in years. This could def be one to watch. Really looking forward to seeing how Tobin goes. I think top 10 and possibly top 5 is on the cards.
Don't nkow enough bout the junior women but i think we can all be confident that Siofra CB is a phenomenal talent over both track and country. Cannot wait to see how a 2:03 junior does over the country. It'll def be interesting. Bring on the athletics!!

With regards Britton there seems to be a consensus among people that the extra distance may hurt Duarte and work in Brittons favourite but its definitely gonna be one a very tough challenge for Britton to defend her title.

With Robinson he definitely has a good chance (especially as reports are that it is quite a fast course which will suit the middle distance types) but I am trying to remember off the top of my head the last time that Robinson has proved himself on the cross he may find it tough especially given fact he hasn't ran a cross race this year. Travel may also play a factor from him coming back from Oz

nobody told me

Anyone know if you can get betting on the races anywhere?

ecoli

nobody told me wrote: »

Anyone know if you can get betting on the races anywhere?

PP usually price it up nearer to the weekend (Sat/Early Sunday usually)

eldiva

emerald007 wrote: »

Good to see RTE covering this on Sunday from 12 until 2.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2013/0320/377548-world-cross-country-live-on-rte-sport/

are they covering it, that link is for worlds back in march

morceli

eldiva wrote: »

are they covering it, that link is for worlds back in march

Yes
http://www.rte.ie/ten/listings/37644277_tv_European_Cross_Country_Athletics

Tombo2001

Spotted this detail on the examiner website.......hardly the best way to go about things. Have seen Fionnualla Britton training a good few times in recent weeks, and who am I to know, but she looks in great shape. Really hope she can do it tomorrow.


Travel arrangements

The Irish team flew on the red eye 6am flight on Friday morning. Such travel arrangements are questionable for the biggest race of the winter. Britton opted to travel a day earlier.

Mumontherun

Link to online results

http://la.sportresult.com/ajax/eaa2.asp?event_id=99913400000002

ecoli

Still early days but Travers and Quinn looking smooth. First three lads packing well

RacoonQueen

Starting to pull away at the front

ecoli

Despite Dooney being good bit down the field and Travers falling off a bit Ireland sitting in 3rd after 5k.

RacoonQueen

Lads need to dig in to get back up to 3rd, not far off Ukraine

RacoonQueen

Dooney and Travers ended up finishing ahead of Quinn, prob just missed the medal

ecoli

Dooney pulled back a good few spots for 38th to be 3rd scorer. Quinn suffered in the later stages for 41st. Not enough for a medal but a good performance

Robinson's 9th will be a good mental boost going into next years EC pipping Ingerbritsen (I am starting to think this was part of the motivation for him running XC given how the race panned out)

RacoonQueen

Promising result all the same. Good to see the three guys in the mix there up to 6K or so.

Fab run for Robinson.

ecoli

Ireland 4th. 38th points off a medal. Very solid performance from the lads. Surprised the French only got bronze as they packed phenomenally well but were just lacking one or two top level performer

Caprica

Fionnula letting a bit of gap develop with the lead group. Agressive running from Grovdal to set the pace.

She has closed it back again. Brits looking good for team gold.

RacoonQueen

FB will be lucky to medal now...not at her best this year...maybe a little unfit after her time off?

ecoli

RacoonQueen wrote: »

FB will be lucky to medal now...not at her best this year...maybe a little unfit after her time off?

I think it was always gonna be difficult to medal to be honest. Only really surprise for me was Belete not even being in contention and maybe Duarte winning as emphatically as she did

Chivito550

Duarte is one miserable looking woman. How hard is it to crack a smile after winning a gold medal. Andy Murray-esque.

echat

Some solid Irish performances and nice to see the under 23 men get themselves into the medals in the middle of the race.

Hard to see the need for an under 23 women's race given the lack of depth and given the top runners would be competitive in the senior women's race and the other runners would strengthen their national teams in the senior race.

ecoli

echat wrote: »

Hard to see the need for an under 23 women's race given the lack of depth and given the top runners would be competitive in the senior women's race and the other runners would strengthen their national teams in the senior race.

Would Gorecka make the UK Senior team next year?

Caprica

I think FB ran as well as could have been expected. It was a good battle for silver, with Steel just holding of Felix. I thought Duarte looked to be working hard at one point but she held on for a comfortable victory. With a full strenght team Ireland could have been on the podium.

Paula Radcliffe was questioning the benefit of the Womens U23 race on the beeb. Good run by Robinson in the mens U23. I expected a bit more from SCB in the junior womens race, she was with the leaders early on but fell back as the race went on.

Just realised there is no Lebid in the mens race, it won't be the same without him.

pconn062

Will be pretty sick in Bezabeh wins this.

wgtomblin

pconn062 wrote: »

Will be pretty sick in Bezabeh wins this.

Yes. Very disappointing to see this guy running away with it.

wgtomblin

Pleased for Vernon. 1st European.

Looks like it didn't go fully to plan for Pollock but he will be back. He's had a fine year in fairness.

ecoli

wgtomblin wrote: »

Pleased for Vernon. 1st European.

Looks like it didn't go fully to plan for Pollock but he will be back. He's had a fine year in fairness.

Flat fast course like that was always gonna suit the more middle distance - 10k runners. Doesn't have the wheels for faster races like that

nerraw1111

Was the fall that decisive factor as the commentators made out?

Great finish by the British runner for third.

wgtomblin

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Was the fall that decisive factor as the commentators made out?

Hard to know for sure... but race became a procession after it. Arakan didn't panic but was big ask for him. The others were happy for him to lead the chase so got no help there.