Fernando Ribeiro at the World Cross Country Championships in 2000 (© Paulo Costa)
AthensThe 7th running of the EAA 10,000m challenge took place on Saturday (12 April) in the Greek capital city, coinciding with the 18th European Athletic Association Congress at which a new EAA Council was elected.
The new EAA council consists of Hansjorg Wirz (Switzerland), President; Valentin Balakhnichev (Russia) and Agoston Schulek (Hungary), Vice Presidents; Karel Pilny (Czech Republic), Treasurer; and Council Members, Philippe Lamblin (France), Jorge Salcedo (Portugal), Janez Alijancic (Slovania), Alfio Giomi (Italy), Clemens Prokop (Germany), Irena Szewinska (Poland), Jose Luis De Carlos (Spain), Georgios Constantopoulos (Greece), Antonios Dracos (Cyprus), John Lister (Great Britain), Jonas Egilsson (Iceland) and Erika Strasser
(Austria).
It was also announced that the 2004 SPAR European Cup will take place in Athens (June 19-20) as part of the Olympic Games test events.
Participating teams in the competition will be host Greece and Germany, Spain, Russia, Great Britain, France, Italy and Poland.
EAA 10,000m challenge
Coinciding with the congress, the EAA also held the 7th edition of their annual 10,000m challenge event, with the men’s race won by Ismail Sghyr of France in 27:45.14, and the women’s event by Portugal’s 1996 Olympic champion Fernanda Ribeiro in 31:13.42. Ribeiro led unopposed after eight laps, while the Frenchman was led by pace makers until 7.2km. NB. Finishing times are still unofficial due to problems with the timing device.