The 2011 European Cross Country Championships was the 18th edition of the cross country running competition for European athletes which was held in Velenje, Slovenia on 11 December.

Atelaw Yeshetela Atelaw Yeshetela Bekele (born 4 December 1987) 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 ...

of Belgium won the men's title to become the country's first ever champion at the competition. The French men's team retained their title from 2010. Fionnuala Britton was the winner in the senior women's race, becoming Ireland's second champion in the history of the event after Catherina McKiernan (who won the inaugural race in 1994). The senior women's team race was won by Great Britain.

Preparation

The city won the rights to the event at the 120th meeting of the European Athletics Council in 2007. It was the second time that Velenje hosted the event, following its hosting of the 1999 edition. The event mascot, Ligi (an anthropomorphic black mole), returned after its introduction in 1999. In the intervening years, the mascot was used for a number of events in the city and represents the importance of

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

(brown coal) in the city's economy. Alongside international television broadcasts,

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 ...

broadcast the event live on the governing body's official website. Jéssica Augusto Barcelona 2010

The championships featured six races: there were senior, under-23, and under-20 junior categories for each of the sexes. The men's senior race had a 9870-metre distance, while the women's senior and men's under-23 races were held over 8040 m. The men's junior race and women's under-23 contests were over 6070 m. The junior women had a 3970 m distance to cover. The course for the competition was based near the grounds of the ''Atletski Klub Velenje'' (Velenje Athletics Club). It had a relatively flat race profile with no significant inclines and comprises two loops (a 1500 m loop and a shorter 300 m circuit). Five European Athletics permit meetings preceded the championships on the weekend of 26–27 November: the ''Skanzen meeting'' in Budapest, the

Cross de l'Acier The Cross de l'Acier ( en, Cross of Steel) was an annual cross country running competition held in late November in Leffrinckoucke, France. First held in 1990, it was one of the foremost competitions of its type in France. Ten races were held at th ...

Leffrinckoucke Leffrinckoucke (; nl, Leffrinkhoeke; vls, Leffrinkoeke) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry Population Twin towns Leffrinckoucke is twinned with: * Węgorzewo in Poland In popular culture The end scenes of ...

, the Warandecross in Tilburg, the

Lotto CrossCup The Lotto Cross Cup is an annual series of international cross country running competitions in Belgium. The inaugural season was in 1982–1983. The series comprises Belgium's foremost cross country competitions, including the IAAF permit meeting in ...

van West-Vlaanderen in Roeselare, and the Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio in

Llodio Laudio/Llodio is a town and municipality located in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain. Laudio is the name in Basque language and Llodio in Spanish; both are used indistinctly. Geography and Demography Llodio is an ...

. These races and national-level trial events were the primary means of athletes gaining selection for the championships. Ukraine's Serhiy Lebid returned to defend his 2010 title and the nine-time champion was the pre-race favourite. The 2010 women's champion, Jéssica Augusto, did not enter the competition as she was still recovering from her outing at the

2011 New York City Marathon The 2011 New York City Marathon was the 42nd running of the annual marathon race in New York City, United States, which took place on Sunday, November 6. Sponsored by ING Group, it was the final race of the 2010/11 World Marathon Majors series and ...

. The other leading finishers from 2010 – Binnaz Uslu, Ana Dulce Félix and Fionnuala Britton – were among the favourites for the women's race.

Race results

Senior men

*Totals: 76 entrants, 76 starters, 73 finishers, 10 teams.

Senior women

*Totals: 54 entrants, 54 starters, 49 finishers, 8 teams.

Under-23 men

*Totals: 99 entrants, 98 starters, 97 finishers, 15 teams.

Under-23 women

*Totals: 43 entrants, 43 starters, 42 finishers, 6 teams.

Junior men

*Totals: 114 entrants, 112 starters, 109 finishers, 19 teams.

Junior women

*Totals: 93 entrants, 93 starters, 92 finishers, 16 teams.

Total medal table

*Note: Totals include both individual and team medals, with medals in the team competition counting as one medal.Medal Table
European Athletics (2011). Retrieved 11 December 2011.

References

External links

Official website
on European Athletics {{European Athletics championships European Cross Country Championships European Cross Country Championships International athletics competitions hosted by Slovenia 2011 in Slovenian sport Velenje Cross country running in Slovenia December 2011 sports events in Europe