from Athletic Northern Ireland website In preparation for hosting the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Santry Demesne on 13th December 2009 Athletics Ireland today launched the official website www.dublin2009.ie. This will be the first European Athletics Championships event ever to be held in Ireland and close on 400 elite athletes will compete in this prestigious event. With just 366 days to the 16th annual Championships the website will help promote one the biggest sporting events to hit our shores in 2009.
The website is full of useful information on Dublin, accommodation in the area and the course itself. It will provide all sports fans with the latest news and reports on the lead up to Dublin 2009.
Ireland has a proud tradition in Cross-Country running; John Treacy took the men’s gold in Glasgow (1978) and Limerick (1979) in the World Cross Country Championships, while Sonia O’Sullivan scored a unique long and short-course double win at the World Cross Country Championships in Marrakesh (1998).
Catherina McKiernan, who won four consecutive silvers in the World Cross Country Championships from 1992 to 1995, took gold in the inaugural European Cross Country Championship at Alnwick, England in 1994.
Irish teams took silver in the men’s event at Limerick and bronze in the women’s long course in 1997 and women’s short course in Dublin 2002 – the most recent of the three occasions on which Ireland has hosted the World Cross Country Championships.
Photo: Liam Hennessy of AAI and Clare McCoy, Athletics Northern Ireland
