Excitement is mounting among Europe’s top distance runners and athletics fans as the Samorin 2017 SPAR European Cross Country Championships on Sunday 10 December draws closer but for 96 Slovak children between the ages of nine and 12 it is fair to say that their focus of attention is a day earlier.
Saturday 9 December sees the climax of a nationwide Kids Athletics project which has seen no less than 118 Slovakian elementary schools or athletics clubs contesting a mixed relay race, involving two boys and two girls and similar in style to the inaugural mixed relay being staged at the championships, in eight regional heats during October and November, the last being the Bratislava region on Saturday.
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The top three teams in each heat progressed to the final where they will run on the same course at the x-bionic sphere resort that will stage the championships the following day.
Each child participating in the heats was presented with a certificate and the top three teams all had the chance to climb the traditional medal podium.
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The initiative, part of the overall legacy of the event and an important health and well-being initiative which embodies European Athletics’ mission statement of Your Sport For Life, was a key component of the Slovak Athletic Federation’s presentation which helped win them hosting rights to the latest edition of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
The question now is, will some of the children running in Samorin on 9 December soon be seen in Slovakian athletics teams in a few years’ time?