The 2010

European Cross Country 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 a continental

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

competition that took place on 12 December in

Albufeira Albufeira () is a city and seat of its own municipality in the district of Faro, in the southernmost Portuguese region of Algarve. The municipality population in 2021 was 44,158, in an area of . The city proper had a population of 28,645 in 2021 ...

, Portugal. It was the second time that the country hosted the event, building upon the 1997 edition held in Oeiras.

Serhiy Lebid Serhiy Lebid or Serhii Lebid ( uk, Сергій Лебідь; born 15 July 1975 in Dnipropetrovsk) is a Ukrainian long-distance runner. Career He has won the European Cross Country championships on nine occasions, winning ...

won the men's race for his ninth victory of the championship – a record for the competition. France took the men's team title.

Jessica Augusto Jessica may refer to: Given name * Jessica (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters with this name * Jessica Folcker, a Swedish singer known by the mononym Jessica * Jessica Jung, a Korean-American singer known by the m ...

comprehensively won the women's race for the host nation and also led the Portuguese team to a team gold medal. At total of 468 athletes from a record number of 34 nations competed at the event.

Competition

Preparation

The race took place on a purpose-built course near the city, which also hosts the annual

Almond Blossom Cross Country The Almond Blossom Cross Country ( pt, Cross Internacional das Amendoeiras em Flor) is an annual international cross country running competition which takes place in Albufeira, in the Algarve region of Portugal, in early March. It is one of the IAA ...

. Albufeira was chosen as the host at the 120th

European Athletics The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...

Council Meeting in October 2008, defeating a rival bid from

Velenje Velenje (; german: Wöllan''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 4: ''Štajersko''. 1904. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 272.) is Slovenia's sixth-largest city, and the seat of the Municipality ...

(which was chosen for the 2011 edition instead).

Hayley Yelling Hayley Higham (born 3 January 1974, in Dorchester) is a British runner. She is the sister-in-law of fellow British runner Liz Yelling. She works as a Maths teacher at Sir William Borlase's Grammar School in Marlow, Buckinghamshire and runs ...

entered the race as the defending women's champion while

Alemayehu Bezabeh Alemayehu Bezabeh Desta ( Amharic: አለማየሁ በዛበህ ደስታ; born c. 1986) is an Ethiopian-born athlete who represents Spain internationally. He competes in middle- and long-distance running on the track, and also in cross country ...

, the reigning men's champion, did not take part in the competition. High-profile investigations into doping in Spain immediately preceded the championships and Bezabeh was among the athletes implicated in

Operación Galgo Operación Galgo (''Operation Greyhound'') is an investigation into doping in athletics by the Guardia Civil in Spain. Initiated in April 2010,Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a British long-distance runner. His ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) make him the most successful male track distance runner ever ...

were absent, the men's race was seen as a relatively open competition, with Ukrainian

, Spanish runners

Ayad Lamdassem Ayad Lamdassem (born October 11, 1981) is a Moroccan-born long distance runner who competes for Spain internationally. He has represented Spain twice in the 10,000 metres at the Summer Olympics (2008 and 2012) as well as the European Athletics ...

and

Jesús España Jesús España Cobo (born 21 August 1978 in Valdemoro, Community of Madrid) is a Spanish long-distance runner, who mostly concentrates on the 3000 and 5000 metres. España first represented Spain at the 2001 IAAF World Cross Country Champion ...

being the foremost protagonists.Purdue carries Britain's hopes while question mark hangs over Spanish entries
'' Athletics Weekly'' (11 December 2010). Retrieved 12 December 2010. The withdrawal of

Rosa Morató Rosa María Morató (born June 19, 1979 in Navarcles) is a Spanish runner who specializes in the steeplechase. She finished eighth at the 2007 World Championships. She represented Spain in the steeplechase at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Her person ...

(runner-up in 2009) left

as the provisional favourite for the women's race. Forming a strong team, three other Portuguese runners (

Ana Dulce Félix Ana Dulce Ferreira Félix (born 23 October 1982) 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.

Marisa Barros Elsa Marisa Branco Barros (born 25 February 1980), known as Marisa Barros, is a Portuguese long-distance runner who specialises in marathon running. Her personal best for the distance is 2:25:04 hours. She ran for her country at the Summer ...

and

Sara Moreira Sara Isabel Fonseca Moreira (; born 17 October 1985) is a Portuguese runner who competes in cross country, road running and in middle-distance and long-distance track events. She represents Sporting CP at club level. After ...

) were expected to challenge for medals, as were Yelling and

Adriënne Herzog Adriënne Herzog (born 30 September 1985, Amersfoort) is a Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She has had most of her success in cross country running, being twice a bronze medallist at the European Cross Country Championships (2009 and 201 ...

(also directly implicated in Operación Galgo), who was third the previous year.

Races

2010 European Cross Country Championships

The men's race remained relatively tight until the final lap. Six men were on equal footing at the bell: Lebid, Lamdassem, French duo

Morhad Amdouni Morhad Amdouni (born 21 June 1988) is a French middle- and long-distance runner. He won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres and bronze for the 5000 metres at the 2018 European Athletics Championships. Amdouni was the European under-20 champion ...

and Abdellatif Meftah, and Rui Pedro Silva and Yousef El Kalai, both representing the hosts. Lamdassem was the first to move away from the pack, seizing the lead, and only Lebid followed. The Ukrainian overhauled Lamdassem in the final stages and maintained a clear lead to win his ninth title – a record for the competition. Lamdassem just held off a late sprint from El Kalai to take the runner-up spot. Meftah and Amdouni finished shortly after for fourth and fifth, leading the French men to a team victory.Minshull, Phil (12 December 2010)
Lebid collects ninth title while Augusto thrills the locals in Albufeira – European XC Champs
IAAF. Retrieved 12 December 2010. Jessica Augusto made her gold medal intentions known as she took the lead in the opening stages. The Portuguese athlete never relinquished the position and produced a largely unrivalled, solo performance. Spaniard

Alessandra Aguilar Alessandra Aguilar Morán (born 1 July 1978 in Lugo) 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 foll ...

shadowed her in the middle part of the race but later dropped out of contention. With Augusto clear in front,

Binnaz Uslu Binnaz Uslu (born March 12, 1985, in Ankara) is a retired Turkish middle-distance and long-distance runner. She was banned from sport for life in 2014, after her second doping violation. The tall athlete at is a member of Enkaspor athletic ...

, Ana Dulce Félix,

Fionnuala Britton Fionnuala McCormack (née Britton; born 24 September 1984 in Wicklow) 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. She has repr ...

and Tetyana Holovchenko battled for the minor medals in the second half of the race. Félix and Uslu fought for the runner-up spot with the Turk eventually winning out. Augusto's lead was so significant that she slowed and celebrated throughout the home straight, still crossing the line with a five-second advantage. Félix took the bronze just ahead Britton, helping the Portuguese women to the team gold medal, and Holovchenko rounded out the top five.

Hassan Chahdi Sidi-Hassan Chahdi (born 7 May 1989) is a French long-distance runner who competes mainly in cross country running competitions. Born in Cluses,Meryem Erdoğan Meryem Erdoğan (formerly ''Mariam Tanga'' or ''Mariam Hana Dingo'', born April 24, 1990) is an Ethiopian-born Turkish long-distance runner. In 2012 Erdoğan was banned for two years after doping. Personal life She was born on April 24, 1990, ...

won the women's under-23 section for Turkey. The junior races were won by Abdelaziz Merzougui and

Charlotte Purdue Charlotte Purdue (born 10 June 1991) 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 ...

Race results

Senior men

*Totals: 75 entrants, 74 starters, 71 finishers, 10 teams.

Senior women

*Totals: 49 entrants, 49 starters, 47 finishers, 7 teams.

Under-23 men

*Totals: 102 entrants, 102 starters, 96 finishers, 16 teams.

Under-23 women

*Totals: 65 entrants, 64 starters, 61 finishers, 8 teams.

Junior men

*Totals: 104 entrants, 104 starters, 99 finishers, 17 teams.

Junior women

*Totals: 76 entrants, 75 starters, 74 finishers, 11 teams.Junior Women – Results
.

(12 December 2010). Retrieved 12 December 2010.

Total medal table

*Note: Totals include both individual and team medals, with medals in the team competition counting as one medal.

References

External links

Official website
on European Athletics {{coord, 37, 05, 32, N, 8, 09, 43, W, region:PT-08_type:event_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title

European Cross Country Championships

Race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

2010 in Portuguese sport Sport in Albufeira Cross country running in Portugal December 2010 sports events in Europe