Can Turkey’s Arslan be Europe’s best mountain runner for a fourth time?

Turkey's Ahmet Arslan is looking for his fourth straight title at the European Mountain Running Championships on Sunday.

Bulgaria will host the 2010 European Mountain Running Championships in the beautiful mountain resort of Sapareva Banya on Sunday, the first time the country has staged the event.

The newest championship in the European Athletics event programme, the European Mountain Running Championships has been a keenly contested annual championship since its introduction in 2002.

This year’s venue staged a successful Balkan Mountain Running Championships two years ago, which prompted the Bulgarian federation to bring a continental championships to the same town.

There will be 79 runners from 25 countries contesting the senior men’s race over 12.2km, run over two laps of a course which includes testing ascents and descents of 685m in elevation.

All eyes will be on whether Turkey’s Ahmet Arslan can win for the fourth consecutive year.

Last year, Arslan led from the start to finish but did not always have things his own way despite his constant presence in pole position. He was followed home by Marco De Gaspari who pressured Arslan hard at various points in the race, and the Italian is back to do battle again with his rival.

France’s Julian Rancon and his compatriot Emmanuel Meyssat were first and second at the Grand Ballon 2010 in France, the first of this year’s World Mountain Running Association Grand Prix events, which was held back in May, and they could also be men with medal ambitions, although seven of the top 10 from 2009 have returned to compete in this year’s race.

In 2009, the team title went to Italy by just three points from France, with Turkey third, and all three nations have strong teams which should be in medal contention again.

Switzerland’s Martina Strähl, the defending senior women’s champion, will not be among the 66 runners from 21 countries on the start line this year as she is preparing to run the 10000m on the track at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona later this month.

Strähl’s absence leaves Italy’s Valentina Belotti, a close second behind Strähl 12 months ago, as possibly the woman to watch in the 9km race which has an elevation of 495m, although France’s Marie Laure Dumergues won the Grand Ballon race by a big margin and looks set to make a massive improvement on her modest 23rd place last year.

The junior categories were introduced for the first time in 2009 and they have proved to be an immediate success. This year, 60 runners from 22 countries will contest the junior men’s race, which will be run over the same route as the senior women’s race, and it looks to be very open as not one of the top 10 from 12 months ago is eligible or has entered this time around.

Who will be the first runners home from among the 39 junior women, who will run over 4.6km with a 235m elevation, is equally difficult to predict although one name that stands out is Slovenia’s Kaja Obidic, who finished 10th last year in a very close race and she could be a medal contender this year.

For the first time ever, and showing its growing popularity, the championships will be broadcast in its entirety on the internet: www.sportmedia.tv.

More information can be read on the webpage of the event: www.emrc2010saparevabanya.org.