Reigning champions favourites to defend their European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country crowns
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| Italian clubs G.S. Fiamme Gialle's Andrea Lalli will be among the medal contenders at the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in the Spanish town of Castellón on Sunday. |
Conforlimpa can boast of Portuguese internationals Tiago Costa, Hermano Ferreira and Lucinio Pimentel but they are also missing their first three men home last year, through injuries and suspensions.
The Portuguese club will also face some strong and motivated opponents among the 21 teams from 19 Member Federations that will be on the start line of the 10km race in the Circuito del Pinar del Grau.
On paper, the defending champions' biggest rivals for supremacy look to be the Spanish clubs Bikila and Otsu Colibri Guadalajara.
The former were the winners two years ago and third last year. The Madrid-based club have the 2010 and 2011 SPAR European Cross Country Championships silver medallist Ayad Lamdassem and Javier Guerra, who was sixth in the Slovenia city of Velenje two months ago.
Guadalajara have assembled a strong team that includes the 2002 European Athletics Championships 3000m steeplechase winner Antonio Jimenez and three-time SPAR European Cross Country Championships medallist Juan Carlos de la Ossa.
G.S. Fiamme Gialle from Italy, second in 2010 and fourth last year, are also sending a strong squad that includes former SPAR European Cross Country Championships junior and U23 winner Andrea Lalli and well-known Italian internationals Daniele Caimmi, Gabriele De Nard and Yuri Floriani.
Other runners who will be aiming for a top place and hopefully leading by example to their team mates are Dundrum South Dublin's Joe Sweeney, from Ireland, who was an outstanding fifth place in Velenje, and SK Vidar's Sindre Buraas, Norway's 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships 5000m gold medallist.
Usküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü will be helped in their defence of their women's crown by having 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships 3000m steeplechase winner Gülcan Mıngır in their team alongside the 2010 European Athletics Championships 5000m gold medallist Alemitu Bekele in their team.
However, Portugal's Maratona Clube De Portugal only lost out on the title 12 months ago by two points in Italy and again and can boast of the scoring quartet who helped Portugal to the senior women's silver medals in Velenje: Ana Dias, individual silver medallist Ana Dulce Félix, Anália Rosa and eighth-placed Leonor Carneiro.
Italian club C.S. Esercito were third in 2011 and have 2011 SPAR European Cross Country Championships fourth place finisher Nadia Ejaffini in their team.
Another top 10 finisher from Velenje was Germany's Simret Restle and she will pull on the vest of her club PSV Grün-Weiss Kassel in Castellón. There will be 13 clubs represented in the senior women's 6km race.
Fenerbahce Spor Kulübü have won the junior men's title for the last three years and Turkish teams have won the event for the six years it has been in existence.
However, there is a good chance that streak might come to an end with Russia's SC Zauralets, who were second by just eight points last year, looking to go one better than 2011 and come out on top of the 14 clubs in the 6km race.
Eduard Krasnov and Vitaliy Lagushin finished 12th and 13th last year but are still eligible to compete as juniors and will be aiming to make a big improvement this time around.
Hosts Playas de Castellón are optimistic that they have a good chance of getting on the podium in this category.
Portugal's Sport Lisboa e Benfica could also be medal contenders and Emmanuel Rolim, the first man home at the 2011 SPAR European Cross Country Championships who is also running in Castellón, will be wearing their colours.
Russian team Luch Moscow have won the junior women's title for the last three years and look to be the slight favourites again for the 4km race, which features 12 clubs, despite only having one of last year's winning squad, ninth placed Ilempi Madeeva, running again.
Portugal's Uniao Desportiva Da Varzea, third last year, should be back on the podium again, at least, and are lead by Catarina Goncalves, who was fifth last year.
Ireland's Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner, who runs for Dundrum South Dublin, finished third in 2011 and although she had a below-par run at the 2011 SPAR European Cross Country Championships and could only finish 49th, the 16-year-old has a lot of talent and will be worth looking out for as well.
The preliminary entry lists for all four races in Castellón are available here.
