The cream of continental cross country club runners will descend on the European Champions Clubs Cup Cross Country in Albufeira, Portugal next Sunday (25).
98 teams featuring 379 athletes have submitted their final entries for the event, making it the biggest edition in recent years.
It is the 12th time in which Albufeira has hosted a version of the championships, which has a history stretching back to 1962. It is also on the same course which hosted the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
Spaniards mounting strong defence
Playas de Castellon are once again expected to be in the mix for the major prizes.
The Spanish outfit took home a golden collection from last year’s event on home turf in Oropesa del Mar, collecting the senior men’s team, senior men’s individual, senior women’s team, mixed relay and women’s U20 individual titles in a memorable day for the club.
Leading their challenge in the senior men’s race is the twin threat of Rodrigue Kwizera and Thierry Ndikumwenayo.
Kwizera has won this race for the past two years and is an athlete of significant international pedigree.
Last year representing Burundi he placed 7th in the 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary and was 8th in the senior men’s race at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia.
Burundi-born Ndikumwenayo, competing for Spain since April 2023, has shown glimpses of huge potential, particularly when winning over 3000m at Monaco Diamond League in 2022 in a brilliant 7:25.93.
He was 9th in the senior men’s race at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships in Århus, Denmark and comes into this event in top form after having won at the Spanish Cross Country Championships in Gatafe last month.
Each participating club is allowed only one athlete per team who is not eligible to run for a European Athletics Member Federation.
Champions clash in senior women's race
In the senior women’s race, 2022 race winner Likina Amebaw is due to toe the start line again. The Ethiopian recently won the Monaco 5k Road Run in a swift 14:35 and will spearhead the Playas de Castellon challenge on individual and team fronts.
Last year’s senior women’s champion Anjelina Nadai Lohalith (above), a refugee runner, will once again wear the colours of Israel’s Hapoel Tel-Aviv AC.
Türkyie club seeking U20 glory
The mixed relay will see Playas de Castellon aiming to defend their title. Swiss club, LC Regensdorf took bronze 12 months ago and will be challenging again this year.
In the U20 women’s race, Edibe Yağiz took double silver last year in the individual competition and with her club Fenerbahce Spor Kulubu of Türkiye and is back again for another medal tilt on both fronts.
Last year’s individual bronze medallist Margot Dajoux is also in the line up, representing France’s Clermont Auvergne Athlétisme, who also took bronze in the team event in 2023.
The men’s U20 race sees Fenerbahce Spor Kulubu attempting to defend their crown. In the individual race, Belgium’s Simon Jeukenne of Herve Athletique Club is a likely contender, he placed 7th in the men’s U20 men’s race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Brussels in December.
Home challenge
The home nation’s clubs are also sure to contend on home soil. Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Sporting Clube de Portugal both have teams in the senior men and senior women’s races. Sporting Clube de Portugal will compete in both the U20 men’s and U20 women’s competitions, whilst Sporting Clube de Braga will compete in the mixed relay.
Men and women will race over the same distances with the senior races over a five-lap course totalling 9.28km while the U20s contest races of three laps totalling 5.62km. The mixed relay is over four shorter legs and has a total distance of 6.13km.
This year’s event is combined with the Cross Internacional das Amendoeiras em Flor, a World Athletics Cross Country Tour meeting, the final Gold level event of the 2023/24 season and an important stop for runners on the road to the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on 30 March.
The championships will be streamed in its entirety through Eurovision Sport with separate English, French and Spanish commentaries, with extensive coverage of the event on the European Athletics website and social media channels.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics