Focus turns to medals as Dublin awarded major event

Athletics/European Cross Country Championships:After yesterday's announcement that Dublin will host the European Cross Country Championships in 2009 the focus now shifts to maximising the success of the event, particularly in terms of winning medals. Ireland already have a good record at European level, and nothing would mark the occasion better than getting home athletes on the medal podium in just over two years' time.

Securing the event was, obviously, the first step, but Athletics Ireland were always the favourites having made the final shortlist of the European Athletics Association (EAA). In the end their bid, which centred upon the accessible and well-groomed course at Santry Demesne, directly behind the Morton Stadium, was the unanimous choice ahead of Carcassonne in France and Bydogoszcz in Poland.

The decision was made at the EAA Calendar Congress in Malta, and the event is provisionally set for December 13th, 2009. It will be the first time Ireland has hosted the European Cross Country, although the World Cross Country was staged here twice before, in Limerick in 1979, and in Leopardstown in 2002.

On both those occasions Ireland came away with medals, with John Treacy famously winning the men's race in 1979, while the men's team also won silver, while in 2002 Sonia O'Sullivan led the women's team to silver medals in the short course race. The chances of winning medals in Santry, even two years out, look good, with Fionnuala Britton already well established among the best cross country runners in Europe.

The Irish highlight, however, remains Catherina McKiernan's gold medal run in the inaugural championships in 1994, but both the men's and women's teams, at full strength, are capable of mixing it with the best in Europe. The men previously won team silver in 2000 and the women did likewise in 2003, and the 2009 event will clearly become the focus of all our top distance runners over the next two years.

In the meantime the successful bid is just reward for Liam Hennessy, the long-serving secretary of Athletics Ireland, and current chair of the Athletics Ireland High Performance Committee. "I'm thrilled with this endorsement by European Athletics. I also have to thank all the co-ordinating team for their enthusiastic hard work, but would especially thank Tom McCormack and Paddy Marley for their pivotal roles in the bid process," said Hennessy.

"The willing support from the Irish Sports Council, RTÉ, Fingal County Council and Clonliffe Harriers was also critical," he added.

Brendan Hackett, chief executive of Athletics Ireland, also identified the importance of maximising the event: "To be awarded the championships is a tremendous honour for Athletics Ireland, and this is now a great incentive for us to get teams together who will be contesting medals on home soil."