2009 European Cross Country Championships
Introduction The '''2009 European Cross Country Championships''' was a continental cross country running competition that was held on 13 December 2009 near Dublin city, Fingal in Ireland. Dublin was selected as the host city in 2007 and the event was the first time that a major European athletics championships took place in Ireland. The six men's and women's races in the championship programme took place in Santry Demense on a looped course with flat and grassy ground. The 16th edition of the European Cross Country Championships featured 323 athletes from 30 nations.Alemayehu Bezabeh upset the defending champion (Serhiy Lebid) to win the men's senior race: it was his first medal at a major international competition and he was the first Spanish runner to win in the history of the championships. In the women's senior competition, Hayley Yelling was a surprise winner, having come out of her competitive retirement just weeks before the race. The much favoured Portuguese team (which included Jessica Augusto and Inês Monteiro) did not reach the individual podium but they took the gold in the team competition.Noureddine Smaïl and Hassan Chahdi took gold and silver in the men's under-23 competition, leading the French to a team victory. Jeroen D'Hoedt was the winner of the men's junior race. Sultan Haydar won the women's under-23 race while Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal added to her junior honours with a gold in the women's junior race, becoming the first Norwegian gold medallist of the championships' history.Almost 7000 spectators attended the championships and, in Europe, it was broadcast live on television for free by RTÉ, the Irish state broadcaster.
Bidding The championship course was next to alt=A brown running track lies within a small, open stadium below a blue sky.Ireland's bid for the competition was first discussed in 2006 when Liam Hennessy, president of Athletics Ireland, proposed the idea at the European Athletics conference that year. After the proposal had gained the support of the Athletics Ireland board, Fingal County Council and the Irish Sports Council, the state broadcaster (RTÉ) agreed to show the event live on television for free across Europe.The bidding process concluded in October 2007 at a presentation to the European Athletics Association in Malta. The Irish bid to host the championships was led by Mary Coghlan (Chair of Finance & Risk AAI), Senan Turnbull (Fingal Council's director of community, culture and sports), Liam Hennessy (President of AAI), Paddy Marlay (Competition Committee of AAI) and beat proposals from France and Poland. Ireland had hosted the World Cross Country Championships in 1979 and 2002, but this was the first time that Ireland had ever hosted a major European athletics competition.
Course alt=A woman begins to celebrate at the finish line of a road race.The course was situated in Santry Demense Park adjacent the national track and field stadium, Morton Stadium, which is the home stadium for Clonliffe Harriers – the oldest athletics club in Ireland. The course's looped design allowed for races of varying lengths through the use of laps. The four race lengths were:  for the senior men's race,  for the senior women's and men's under-23 competitions,  for the under-23 women and junior men, and finally  for the women's junior race. The ground of the course was grassy throughout and, while it did contain some slight dips and uphills, it did not feature any severe obstacles or inclines.
Competition Prior to the championships, eight-time gold medal winner Serhiy Lebid was the favourite for the men's race, with Great Britain's Mo Farah representing the greatest challenge to him. For the women's race, reigning champion Hilda Kibet had decided not to compete. This left the women's senior competition without a clear favourite: Portugal's Jessica Augusto and Inês Monteiro, along with former champions Hayley Yelling and Tetyana Holovchenko, comprised the likely medallists, while Mary Cullen was the home favourite.On the day of the race, an estimated 7000 spectators were in attendance and a total of 323 athletes represented 30 European nations. Although the championships only accepts athletes who are citizens of European countries, African-born athletes were highly represented among those who reached the podium: Ethiopian-born runners Alemayehu Bezabeh and Sultan Haydar Sultan, and Algerian-born Noureddine Smaïl all took gold medals, while Atelaw Yeshetela and Somalian-born athlete Mo Farah won minor medals.===Men's race===There was a slow start to the men's senior race, with a large leading pack reaching the 2.5 km mark. However, soon after that point, Mo Farah made clear his intention to win the race, increasing the pace and accelerating away from the pack. He remained the leader for the first half of the race, with Alemayehu Bezabeh following closely and Lebid a little further behind. Bezabeh, competing in only his second European championships, overtook Farah in the fourth lap and began to create a lead for himself. Farah made ground on the leader in the final lap, but he tired towards the end. Bezabeh went on to win his first major title, becoming the first Spaniard to win the championships.Coming in second place, Farah collapsed after the finish line and missed the medal ceremony as he received medical assistance. Although ahead of the rest of the pack, Lebid was a clear third and was some way off the two frontrunners – an injury two weeks prior to the race had affected his preparations and he was pleased to receive the bronze medal. Spanish runners Sergio Sánchez and Ayad Lamdassem took fourth and fifth places, all but guaranteeing Spain the men's team gold medal.2004 champion, won the women's senior race.|alt=A woman in red runs alongside a group of athletes on a grey road.===Women's race===The women's senior race also had an unexpected winner: Hayley Yelling of Great Britain (the 2004 championships winner) had retired from athletics after a poor showing at the 2008 European Cross Country Championships, but she returned to competition in December 2009 with a win at the British selection race for that year's race.Yelling started with a quick pace, rapidly building up a lead over the pack of runners in the early stages of the race. During the second lap, the Portuguese runners, along with Rosa María Morató and Adriënne Herzog, remained in pursuit but Ireland's Mary Cullen had faded behind. Yelling, still leading, maintained her fast speed after the halfway point while Augusto and Morató filled out the medalling positions. Morató pulled away from Augusto, but never managed to make up the six-second gap between her and Yelling. The Briton took the gold medal and Morató was next to come in, receiving the silver medal. Meanwhile, Herzog overtook a tired Jessica Augusto for the bronze. Augusto, Monteiro, and Ana Dulce Félix of Portugal filled out the top six finishers; although they had failed to reach the individual podium, the trio and tenth-placed Sara Moreira won the team gold medals by a significant margin.===Under-23 and junior races===In the men's under-23 race, there was a large group of runners at the front up until the 3.5 km mark, at which point a pack of three runners led the race throughout: Atelaw Yeshetela of Belgium, and Hassan Chahdi and Noureddine Smaïl of France. The three took turns in leading the race and remained close. However, in the final lap, Smaïl broke away from the other two runners and was unchallenged at the finish line, proving his abilities after a disappointing race in 2008.Chahdi was the silver medallist and Yeshetela took third place, while Frenchman Florian Carvalho was fourth, setting up France as the team gold medallists of the race. Great Britain and Belgium took the team silver and bronze respectively.As she had done in the previous year's competition, Sultan Haydar of Turkey took the lead early on in the women's under-23 competition. By the halfway mark she was thirteen seconds clear of the other runners, but her pace started to slow. Irina Sergeyeva quickly reduced the Turkish runner's lead and on the final lap she threatened to take first place. However, Sergeyeva was beaten by Haydar's sprint finish in the final home straight. Jessica Sparke took the bronze, and her teammates Charlotte Browning and Hollie Rowland followed shortly after to continue Great Britain's unbeaten run of gold medals in the women's under-23 team competition.In the junior races, Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal became the first Norwegian to win at the European Championships. The European Junior Champion quickly took control of the women's race and managed to hold off Gulshat Fazlitdinova to win the title. Kate Avery was the bronze medallist in the individual race, and Russia, Great Britain and Germany were the team medallists. Grøvdal's compatriot Sondre Nordstad Moen failed to make it a junior double for Norway in the men's race. Moen led the race for the first three laps with a comfortable pace, but Jeroen D'Hoedt pulled ahead for the final lap. Nick Goolab made up significant ground to pip teammate James Wilkinson for the silver at the finish line. Moen ended up fourth, but he won a team bronze with Norway. Britain and France won the gold and silver team medals, respectively.
Race results ===Men's senior===alt=A slender man raises his arm in victory on a grassy course.2008 silver medallist Mo Farah finished again in second place.|alt=A man representing Great Britain focuses on running.alt=A man in a Ukraine vest grimaces while he runs.+Individual race Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s) Image:Gold medal icon.svg Alemayehu Bezabeh30:45 Image:Silver medal icon.svgMo Farah31:02 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgSerhiy Lebid31:17 4Sergio Sánchez31:26 5Ayad Lamdassem31:30 6José Rocha31:34 7 Eduard Mbengani31:41 8Mark Kenneally31:42 9Daniele Meucci31:42 10Stéphane Joly31:46 11Driss El Himer31:54 12Andy Vernon31:54 13Michael Skinner31:54 14Licínio Pimentel31:54+Team race Rank Team Points Image:Gold medal icon.svg Alemayehu BezabehSergio SánchezAyad LamdassemFrancisco Javier López34 Image:Silver medal icon.svgMo FarahAndy VernonMichael SkinnerBenedict Whitby54 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgDaniele MeucciStefano La RosaAndrea LalliGabriele De NardGianmarco ButtazzoMartin Dematteis 62 467 573 6115 7 146 8149*''Note: Scores are calculated by combining the finishing positions of a country's top four athletes. The country with the lowest cumulative score wins. ''*Totals: 67 entrants, 65 starters, 62 finishers, 10 teams===Women's senior===Adriënne Herzog of alt=A pale woman runs through a muddy path.+Individual race Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s) Image:Gold medal icon.svg Hayley Yelling27:49 Image:Silver medal icon.svgRosa María Morató27:56 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgAdriënne Herzog28:04 4Jessica Augusto28:11 5Inês Monteiro28:14 6Ana Dulce Félix28:19 7 Olivera Jevtic28:21 8Tetyana Holovchenko28:25 9Freya Murray28:25 10Sara Moreira28:32 11Fionnuala Britton28:39 12Mary Cullen28:45Inês Monteiro helped Portugal to the team gold.|alt=A woman in blue closes her eyes while running through the streets.+Team race Rank Team Points Image:Gold medal icon.svg Jessica AugustoInês MonteiroAna Dulce FélixSara Moreira25 Image:Silver medal icon.svgHayley YellingFreya MurrayKatrina WoottonSonia Samuels51 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgRosa María MoratóIris María Fuentes-PilaAlessandra AguilarNuria Fernández58 482 5130 6103 7 141 8161*Totals: 53 entrants, 51 starters, 50 finishers, 8 teams===Men's under-23===alt=A young man representing France lifts his arms as he breaks the tape at the finishing line of a race.+Individual race Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s) Image:Gold medal icon.svg Noureddine Smaïl25:11 Image:Silver medal icon.svgHassan Chahdi25:17 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgAtelaw Yeshetela25:21 4Florian Carvalho25:30 5Mitch Goose25:33 6Christoph Ryffel25:38 7 Abdi Nageeye25:40 8Ricky Stevenson25:40 9Musa Roba-Kinkal25:41 10Alexander Söderberg25:45 11Lewis Timmins25:45 12Yegor Nikolayev25:46+Team race Rank Team Points Image:Gold medal icon.svg Noureddine SmaïlHassan ChahdiFlorian CarvalhoMatthieu Le Stum31 Image:Silver medal icon.svgMitch GooseRicky StevensonLewis TimminsJonathan Taylor45 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgAtelaw YeshetelaSanne TorfsKim RuellRuben Vandevelde59 481 5102 6105 7 128 8134*Totals: 82 entrants, 81 starters, 75 finishers, 11 teams===Women's under-23===+Individual race Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s) Image:Gold medal icon.svg Sultan Haydar21:14 Image:Silver medal icon.svgIrina Sergeyeva21:15 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgJessica Sparke21:26 4Charlotte Browning21:30 5Hollie Rowland21:31 6Tatyana Shutova21:32 7 Sandra Eriksson21:32 8Natalya Puchkova21:36 9Alfiya Khasanova21:39 10Stevie Stockton21:39 11Stephanie Twell21:42 12Anna Hahner21:49+Team race Rank Team Points Image:Gold medal icon.svg Jessica SparkeCharlotte BrowningHollie RowlandStevie Stockton22 Image:Silver medal icon.svgIrina SergeyevaTatyana ShutovaNatalya PuchkovaAlfiya Khasanova25 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgClaire NavezLouise GhesquierePatricia LaubertieLaura Miclo 85 485 598 6155 7 162 8163*Totals: 61 entrants, 61 starters, 59 finishers, 8 teams===Men's junior===+Individual race Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s) Image:Gold medal icon.svg Jeroen D'Hoedt18:46 Image:Silver medal icon.svgNick Goolab18:47 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgJames Wilkinson18:47 4Sondre Nordstad Moen18:49 5Richard Goodman18:56 6Rui Pinto18:57 7 Nemenja Cerovac18:59 8Bryan Cantero19:01 9Abdelatif Hadjam19:03 10Lars Erik Malde19:03 11Soufiane Bouchikhi19:05 12Henrik Ingebrigtsen19:07+Team race Rank Team Points Image:Gold medal icon.svg Nick GoolabJames WilkinsonRichard GoodmanMatthew GillespieCallum HawkinsJonathan Hay24 Image:Silver medal icon.svgBryan CanteroAbdelatif HadjamTanguy PepiotColin GuillardMichael GrasValentin Pepiot58 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgSondre Nordstad MoenLars Erik MaldeHenrik IngebrigtsenHarald KaarboeThomas Solberg EideFerdinand Kvan Edman77 493 598 6127 7 129 8137*Totals: 89 entrants, 89 starters, 88 finishers, 15 teams===Women's junior===+Individual race Rank Athlete Country Time (m:s) Image:Gold medal icon.svg Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal14:10 Image:Silver medal icon.svgGulshat Fazlitdinova14:12 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgKate Avery14:27 4Corinna Harrer14:33 5Federica Bevilacqua14:33 6Lauren Howarth14:35 7 Sandra Mosquera14:38 8Lyudmila Lebedeva14:38 9Ciara Mageehan14:40 10Cataryna Ribeiro14:40 11Carla Salomé Rocha14:41 12Amela Terzić14:42+Team race Rank Team Points Image:Gold medal icon.svg Gulshat FazlitdinovaLyudmila LebedevaYelena SedovaTatyana Prorokova47 Image:Silver medal icon.svgKate AveryLauren HowarthEleanor WimshurstBeth Potter51 Image:Bronze medal icon.svgCorrina HarrerJana SussmanGesa-Felicitas KrauseStephanie Platt73 498 5100 6103 7 118 8122*Totals: 76 entrants, 76 starters, 76 finishers, 11 teams
Total medal table *Note: Totals include both individual and team medals, with medals in the team competition counting as one medal.
References ;General* * Results – Senior Men. European Athletics (2009-12-13). Retrieved 2009-12-16. * Results – Senior Women. European Athletics (2009-12-13). Retrieved 2009-12-17. * Results – Under 23 Men. European Athletics (2009-12-13). Retrieved 2009-12-17. * Results – Under 23 Women. European Athletics (2009-12-13). Retrieved 2009-12-17. * Results – Junior Men. European Athletics (2009-12-13). Retrieved 2009-12-17. * Results – Junior Women. European Athletics (2009-12-13). Retrieved 2009-12-17.;Specific
External links * Official website* European Athletics website