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ECCC XC senior women's preview: Batman, Braga and Bilbao set to do battle for team honours again

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Batman Petrol were the slightly surprising, if fully deserved winners, of the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country senior women’s team title in 2024 and the Turkish club will be out to show it was no fluke at this year’s event in Albufeira, Portugal on Sunday (2).

Despite the fact Batman Petrol’s three scorers from last year’s team don’t return, they should still be strong contenders for the podium.

They are led by the 2016 European Athletics Championships 3000m steeplechase bronze medallist Ozlem Kaya Alici, who also finished second in this race back in 2015 and 2016 when she helped her previous club Üsküdar Belediyespor to victory.

Kaya Alici’s teammates include Urkus Isik, the 2024 Balkan U23 cross country champion.

Also flying the Türkiye flag on Portugal’s Algarve coast will be the famous Fenerbahce club.

Wearing their familiar yellow and black colours will be Bahar Yildirim and Derya Kunar, who finished 15th and 30th respectively on home soil at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in December, the second and third scorers for Türkiye in a team that just missed out on the medals when finishing fourth in Antalya.

Also in the Fenerbahce team is the reigning Turkish and Balkan cross country champion Sumeyye Erol, who won the U20 race at this event back a decade ago in 2015 as a prelude to her becoming the European U20 3000m steeplechase champion later that summer.

Notably, despite winning a plethora of ECCC Cross Country U20 men’s and women’s team titles, Fenerbahce have never won a senior ECCC Cross Country crown.

The senior women’s race – which has 67 runners from 17 clubs and 11 different countries entered – also has the clubs which finished second and third behind Batman Petrol in 2024 return to do battle again.

Can Braga recapture their glory days?

Home hopes Sporting Clube de Braga - whose women won this title seven years in succession from 1987-93 - have Mariana Machado in their ranks.

Machado finished an excellent sixth at the 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships as well as sixth in this race last year and Braga also have Joana Vanessa Carvalho, who was their third scorer last year in 14th place in a closely contested race in which they just lost the title by three points.

Spanish club Bilbao Atletismo Santutxu finished third in 2024 despite getting their three scorers in the first 13 women home.

Once again they will be led by Carolina Robles, who finished seventh in this race last year but who has clearly improved this winter culminating in her taking the Spanish cross country title last Sunday.

Other well-known names who will turn out for their club in Albufeira include Great Britain’s three-time Olympian Stephanie Twell and Italy’s Federica Del Buono.

Twell will be representing the British club Aldershot, Farnham and District, who also look like they have a shot at team medals, and among her many accolades was a three-time winner of the SPAR European Cross Country Championships U20 title.

Having moved all the way up from being a world U20 1500m champion to nowadays setting her sights on the marathon, Twell will appreciate the longer 9.28km course in Albufeira.

Del Buono, who will be running for the Carabinieri club, has European cross country gold medals to her name as well having been part of successful Italian teams that took the 2022 mixed relay and 2024 senior women’s team titles.

The Italian police club also have Paris 2024 Olympic Games marathoner Giovanna Epis in their team.

Time for Niyomukunzi to find the Midas touch

A new name is guaranteed among the individual role of honour as there will be no former winners on the women’s start line but Francine Niyomukunzi of Italian team Cus Pro Patria Milano finished second last year and will obviously be looking to go one better this time.

The Burundian is also in fine form after finishing third in the high-quality World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting Elgoibar, Spain at the start of the month and the 2024 Olympian also made the podium in her final three races of 2024, all in Spain including winning Amorebieta back in October.

Perennial Danish champions Sparta Atletik also have two-time ECCC Cross Country U20 winner Anna Mark Helwigh running for them although she has been struggling slightly for form in the last year.

All the races from Albufeira are being streamed live on the European Athletics website from 9.55am local time (09:55 UTC/10:55 CET) with English-language commentary.

Phil Minshull for European Athletics




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