Fionnuala McCormack is an Irish runner who has competed at a range of distance running events. She was the gold medallist at the 2011 and 2012 European Cross Country Championships, becoming the first woman to successfully defend the title. She has represented Ireland in the steeplechase at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics, the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and 2011 World Championships in Athletics, and twice at the European Athletics Championships.
The European Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition. Organised by the European Athletic Association, it is the area championships for the region and is held in December each year. The championships was inaugurated in 1994 in Alnwick and the venue for the championships changes each year.
The 2009 European Cross Country Championships was a continental cross country running competition that was held on 13 December 2009 near Dublin city, Fingal in Ireland. Dublin was selected as the host city in 2007 and the event was the first time that a major European athletics championships took place in Ireland. The six men's and women's races in the championship programme took place in Santry Demense on a looped course with flat and grassy ground. The 16th edition of the European Cross Country Championships featured 323 athletes from 30 nations.
The Nordic Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition that is contested between the Nordic countries. The championships are generally held in mid-November and the host nation rotates every year between the Nordic countries.
Imane Merga Jida is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 and 10,000 metres. He won his first world title at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. At the 2011 World Championships in Athletics he won the 10,000 m bronze medal, but he was disqualified in the 5000 m, losing a second bronze.
The Asian Cross Country Championships is a biennial regional cross country running competition for athletes from Asia. It is organised by the Asian Athletics Association and was first held in 1991 in Fukuoka, Japan. The competition has been held every two years since then, although the 2003 edition was postponed due to political conflicts within the region.
Ana Dulce Ferreira FélixComM is a Portuguese long distance runner who competes in track, cross country, and road running events. She ran the Olympic marathon in 2012 and 2016 and placed 21st and 16th, respectively.
The 2010 European Mountain Running Championships were held on 4 July in Sapareva Banya, Bulgaria. They were that year's area championships for mountain running, held by the European Athletic Association in conjunction with the Bulgarian Athletic Federation. The competition featured four races, with senior and junior races for both men and women. The 2010 competition featured an uphill–downhill course format. A total of 237 runners from 24 nations started the competition and two further nations were present as observers.
Ayad Lamdassem El Mouhcine is a long distance runner. Born in Morocco, he competes for Spain internationally. He has represented Spain twice in the 10,000 metres at the Summer Olympics as well as the European Athletics Championships.
Alessandra Aguilar Morán is a Spanish long-distance runner who specialises in marathon running. She represented her country in the event at the 2008 Summer Olympics and at the World Championships in Athletics the following year and then at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the World Championships following that.
The 2010 European Cross Country Championships was a continental cross country running competition that took place on 12 December in Albufeira, Portugal. It was the second time that the country hosted the event, building upon the 1997 edition held in Oeiras.
Charlotte Lucy Purdue is a British long-distance runner who competes in the Marathon and Half Marathon, as well as cross country running for Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletics Club. After winning a number of youth titles at national level, she had her first international success at the European Cross Country Championships, winning medals in the junior races of 2007 and 2008. She was also the best European junior at the World Cross Country Championships those years.
Atelaw Yeshetela Bekele is an Ethiopian-born long-distance runner who competes internationally for Belgium. He was the winner at the European Cross Country Championships in 2011. Bekele's personal bests on the track are 13:43.20 minutes for the 5000 meters, and 29:47.60 minutes for the 10,000 meters. He is not related to Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele.
José Rocha is a Portuguese long-distance runner who competes in track, cross country running and half marathons. He was third at the 2009 European Cup 10000m and was the bronze medallist at the 2011 European Cross Country Championships. He also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Ibero-American Championships. He has a 5000 metres best of 13:47.78 minutes and a 10,000 metres best of 28:15.44 minutes.
Gemma Steel is a British long-distance runner who competes in road running and cross country running competitions. She was the 2014 gold medallist at the European Cross Country Championships. She has represented Great Britain internationally in cross country, road and track events. She has won at three of the Great Run series events: the Great Ireland Run, Great Birmingham Run and Great Yorkshire Run. She has also won the Bristol Half Marathon and placed seventh at the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.
The 2015 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was the 41st edition of the global championships in cross country running, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held in Guiyang, China on 28 March. It was the first time that the event was held in China, and the third occasion it took place in Asia. Senior and junior races were held for men and women, with the four races having both a team and individual element.
The 2012 European Cross Country Championships was the 19th edition of the cross country running competition for European athletes which was held in Szentendre, Hungary on 9 December.
Manuel Damião is a Portuguese middle- and long-distance runner. He represented Portugal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He is a two-time silver medallist at the Ibero-American Championships in Athletics and participated in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on ten occasions from 1997 to 2011.
The 2013 European Cross Country Championships was the 20th edition of the cross country running competition for European athletes which was held in Belgrade, Serbia, on 8 December 2013. The senior individual winners were Alemayehu Bezabeh of Spain and Sophie Duarte of France. A record 571 runners from 37 nations entered the competition, making it Serbia's largest international athletics event in over forty years.
The 2014 European Cross Country Championships was the 21st edition of the cross country running competition for European athletes which was held in Samokov, Bulgaria, on 14 December 2014. The events were hosted at Borovets – a winter sports and ski resort in the Rila mountains.
