European Cross Country Championships - PREVIEW

Europe’s top cross country talent - 373 runners from 27 countries - will converge this Sunday (12 Dec) near Germany’s Baltic resort of Seebad Heringsdorf, for the 11th SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

With fields consisting of familiar faces and emerging talents, Sunday’s races, as were many of the previous editions, are ripe for surprises.

MEN – senior race

Four-time winner Sergiy Lebid of Ukraine leads the men's field. The 1998 champion and victor at the last three editions, Lebid has been training at altitude in preparation for his appearance in Heringsdorf. The 29-year-old Lebid hasn't raced since his appearance in the heats of the Olympic 5000 metres in late August, but did run a 13:13.03 over the distance in Stockholm's DN Galan in July, just off his 13:10.78 national record from 2002. Lebid has appeared in each of the previous 10 editions of these championships; another win would break his tie with Portugal’s Paolo Guerra for most individual titles.

Last year’s runner-up, Spaniard Juan Carlos de la Ossa, may mount not only the most serious attack on the Ukrainian's win streak, but could lead his nation to their fourth team title. Two weeks ago at the Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio, he was eighth overall and the top European finisher. He notched his first win of the season in Spain's Cross Del Aceite on 14 November, a week after finishing second at the Cross Internacional Castellano-Manchego. On the track last summer, the 28-year-old de la Ossa lowered his PB in the 5000 to 13:18.43. While Spain won the team crown in 1995, 2001 and 2002, no Spaniard has ever won the individual title.

Joining de la Ossa in the Spanish team bid are a pair of tested veterans: European 10,000m champion Jose Manuel "Chema" Martinez and Jose Rios. Martinez was third in the Cross Del Aceite last month, while Rios, winner of the Lake Biwa Marathon last spring, has raced three times this autumn, most recently in the 'Jean Bouin' (road race held in Barcelona and won by Zersenay Tadesse) where he came fourth.

Defending champions France, who won their first team title in 2000 and finished runners-up in 2001 and 2002, are led by Mustapha Essaid, who was seventh last year but runner-up in 2002.

Marathoner Tom van Hooste, fourth last year, may be in the individual hunt as well. Most recently, the 32-year-old Belgian served as a pacemaker at the ING New York City Marathon, assisting American Ryan Shay with a personal best. Gabriele de Nard, fourth in 2001, will lead the Italian squad in his eighth appearance at the championships.

WOMEN – senior race

Last year, Paula Radcliffe's appearance - and subsequent win - was the main attraction in Edinburgh, but with her absence this year, the women's race is wide open, ripe for the taking as new stars hope to emerge.

Yet even with the World marathon record holder absent, the British are sending a strong women's squad to the Baltic coast as they try to defend their 2003 title, the first ever for the women from the British Isles.  20-year-old Charlotte Dale, third last year and the 2002 junior champion leads the squad. The rising British hope will be joined by Jo Pavey, fifth at the Olympic Games in the 5000m, and Hayley Yelling, who was fifth last year. All three have run well in the domestic Reebok Cross Challenge, while Pavey and Dale finished 1-2 in their last race, the Nike RunLondon 10-K, less than two weeks ago.

No German has ever won an individual title; Sabrina Mockenhaupt hopes to change that as her nation hosts the event for the first time. 15th in the Olympic 10,000m in August, Mockenhaupt, who celebrated her 24th birthday on December 6, arrives in Heringsdorf with the momentum of three consecutive wins: the Herborner Adventslauf 8.3 km last weekend, the national cross country title the week before, and the Lotto Crosscup van Vlaandere in Ghent on November 7. In the spring, she improved her track PBs to 15:03.47 and 31:23.35 in the 5000 and 10,000. German hopes for a podium finish were hit with the withdrawal of Irina Mikitenko. The 32-year-old international veteran will be replaced with Andreina Byrd, a standout performer at the NCAA level while a student at the University of Arkansas.

Romania’s Mihaela Botezan could challenge for a top spot as well. The 28-year-old ran a solid 10km leg at the Chiba Ekiden two weeks ago, and finished tenth at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in October, claiming a silver medal as part of Romania’s runner-up trio. In August, she was 11th in the Olympic 10,000m, clocking a national record 31:11.24.

Ireland's Maria McCambridge, a member of last year's bronze medal winning squad from the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, leads an Irish team hoping to repeat their silver medal position from last year. Polish steeplechaser Justyna Bak was the top European and fourth overall in last weekend's Cross International de la Constitución in Alcobendas, Spain, and could help lead a surpise attack in the team race for Poland. Italy's Patrizia Tisi, the national cross country champion, arrives in Heringsdorf after a top-25 finish at the World Half Marathon Championships.

Irish star Sonia O'Sullivan, who announced last month that she would be contesting the event, has withdrawn with injury.

Men – Junior race

The men's junior race is shaping up to be a rerun of the previous two editions, with a heated match-up between 19-year-old Russian twins Yevgeniy and Anatoliy Rybakov again taking centre stage. On Sunday, this sibling rivalry could reach legendary status. In 2002, Yevgeniy beat his brother by one second; last year Anatoliy narrowed the margin, but still finished second, credited with the same time. In the past two editions, the brothers led Russia to the team title as well.

Ireland’s Mark Christie of Ireland, sixth last year, along with teammate Danny Darcy, hope to challenge the Rybakov brothers' recent domination.

Women – Junior race

With no dominant forces, the women's junior races are more difficult to forecast. Dutch standout Adrienne Herzog was seventh in the 3000m at last summer's IAAF World Junior Championships, while the Romanian duo, Ancuta Bobocel and Catalina Marina Oprea, finished 2-3 in the World junior steeplechase in Grosseto. The British squad has won three of the last four junior team titles. This year, they are led by Claire Holm, who made her international debut at last spring's World Championships. Spain's Marta Romo, the winner of the junior race in Soria last month, could also be a factor.

Sunday’s race schedule

The action begins with the junior women's race (3.640km) at 11:15 followed by the junior men (5.640km) at noon. The senior women's race (5.640km) follows at 13:10 before the meeting concludes with the senior men's competition (9.640km) at 13:45.

The forecast for Sunday calls for overcast skies with temperatures of 5-6 degrees Celsius. The championship will be broadcast by several Europe-wide and national satellite, cable and national networks, including Eurosport, Germany's Nord-Deutscher Rundfunk (NDR), the BBC in the UK, TVE, Teledeporte and SAT in Spain, NOS in the Netherlands, VRT in Belgium, RTE in Ireland and RAI in Italy.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF