Today marks one month to go to the 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships which will be held in Antalya, Türkiye on Sunday 8 December.
This will be the first time the championships will be held on Turkish soil and this edition marks the 30th staging of a championships which was introduced to the calendar in 1994 to provide an additional continental focal point for Europe's leading distance runners in the winer, in addition to the World Cross Country Championships.
In the very first edition in Alnwick, Great Britain the programme was comprised solely of the two senior races which were won by Portugal’s Paulo Guerra and Catherina McKiernan from Ireland but the programme has expanded over the ensuing three decades and now includes seven races, the latest addition being the mixed relay in 2017.
Among those who have made an early commitment to competing at the Dokuma Park in Antalya are Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Nadia Battocletti from Italy, who also won a memorable 5000m/10,000m double this summer on home soil at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Battocletti's triumphs at Roma 2024 can be re-lived here on the European Athletics YouTube channel.
The Italian who will be looking to become the first female athlete in history to win individual U20, U23 and senior titles at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
After winning the U20 races in 2018 and 2019 and then the U23 titles in 2021 and 2022, Battocletti has a little bit of unfinished business with the championships after she finished second in Brussels last year behind
Fresh from being anointed the men’s 2024 Rising Star at the Golden Tracks awards night last month, Niels Laros from the Netherlands confirmed he aims to add extra lustre to his prestigious junior career with victory in the U20 race.
The 19-year-old had to settle for individual silver last year having been outsprinted by Axel Vang Christensen in a thrilling and muddy finale in Brussels. "I'm looking for redemption in Antalya," said a determined Laros at the Golden Tracks ceremony.
Great Britain is the most successful nation in SPAR European Cross Country Championships history with 83 gold medals and 189 medals overall with France a distant second with 35 victories and 106 medals.
It is not inconceivable that Great Britain's medal tally could reach the 200 mark in Antalya given the nation's recent success at the championships.
The nation topped the medal table once again in Brussels last year with seven gold medals including individual titles from Innes Fitzgerald (U20 women), Megan Keith (U23 women) and Will Barnicoat (U23 men). Incidentally, all three athletes are eligible to defend their titles in Antalya.
Hosts Türkiye have also enjoyed recent success at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, sweeping the senior titles in 2016 and 2017 thanks in part to the exploits of Yasemin Can who won a record four successive senior women's titles between 2016-2019.
However, their brightest medal prospects for the host nation could come in the women’s U20 race courtesy of 2022 European U20 1500m champion Dilek Kocak and Ayca Fidanoglou, the latter leading Türkiye to U20 team silver at the 2022 SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
The Antalya 2024 SPAR European Cross Country Championships will be streamed live by European Athletics with commentary from two-time World Cross Country Championships silver medallist Tim Hutchings and 2011 World Athletics Championships 1500m silver medallist Hannah England.
Highlights of the Brussels 2023 SPAR European Cross Country Championships are available on the European Athletics YouTube channel here.
Steven Mills for European Athletics