Leaders in the senior men's race at the 2014 European Cross Country Championships in Samokov (© Getty Images)
A leading number of Europe’s best distance runners will begin 2015 with an exciting challenge when they take part in the Great Edinburgh Cross Country meeting on 10 January as part of the European team in the IAAF Cross Country Permit meeting.
It is the annual international match between Britain, Europe and the USA, with the European team selected on the basis of their final individual results from last weekend’s European Cross Country Championships in Samokov.
The event on 10 January will be the 26th staging of the Great Edinburgh Cross Country, which has featured some of the world’s best athletes since its inception in 1988.
Taking place in the picturesque surroundings of Holyrood Park, there will be separate races for senior and junior age groups.
Last year Great Britain took the team title with 159 points from Europe with 172 and USA 203.
The host nation’s leading athletes will not be included in the European team as they will instead represent Britain. But following the results of the European Cross Country Championships in Samokov, the athletes selected for this year’s team Europe are (finalised team still to be confirmed):
Men
Senior: Polat Kemboi Arikan (TUR), Ali Kaya (TUR), Alemayehu Bezabeh (ESP), Florian Carvalho (FRA), Mohamed Marhum (ESP), Khalid Choukoud (NED), Stephano La Rosa (ITA), Timothee Bommier (FRA), Ilgizar Safiulin (RUS), Igor Maksimov (RUS), Vladimir Nikitin (RUS), Elmar Engholm (SWE).
Junior: Yemaneberhan Crippa (ITA), Said Ettaqy (ITA), Ayoub Mokhtar (ESP), Yohannes Chiappinelli (ITA), Jordi Torrents (ESP), William Levay (SWE).
Women
Senior: Meraf Bahta (SWE), Almensch Belete (BEL), Sophie Duarte (FRA), Fionnuala Britton (IRL), Iwona Lewandowska (POL), Iris Maria Fuentes-Pila (ESP), Carla Salome Rocha (POR), Sara Treacy (IRL), Militsa Mircheva (BUL), Gulshat Fazlitdinova (RUS), Yekaterina Sokolenko (RUS), Maureen Koster (NED).
Junior: Alina Reh (GER), Cassandre Beaugandre (FRA), Anna-Emilie Moller (DEN), Celia Anton (ESP), Alberte Pedersen (DEN), Weronika Pyzik (POL).
European Athletics for the IAAF
