The 2011
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 championship ...
was the 18th edition of the
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 cou ...
competition for European athletes which was held in
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 ...
,
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
on 11 December.
Atelaw Yeshetela 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
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 ...
was the winner in the senior women's race, becoming Ireland's second champion in the history of the event after
Catherina McKiernan
Catherina McKiernan (born 30 November 1969 in Cornafean, County Cavan) is a former long-distance runner from Ireland, who competed in the marathon, 10,000 metres and cross country running.
Biography
McKiernan has held the Women's national rec ...
(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
Mole (or Molé) may refer to:
Animals
* Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America
* Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...
), 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 (brown coal) in the city's economy.
Alongside international television broadcasts,
European Athletics broadcast the event live on the governing body's official website.
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
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, the
Cross de l'Acier in
Leffrinckoucke, the
Warandecross in
Tilburg
Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...
, the
Lotto CrossCup van West-Vlaanderen in
Roeselare
Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke.
Th ...
, and the
Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio
The Cross Internacional Valle de Llodio is an annual cross country running competition that takes place in Llodio in the Basque Country, Spain, around late November. The event was first held in February 1985 and changed to an end-of-year competit ...
in
Llodio. These races and national-level trial events were the primary means of athletes gaining selection for the championships.
Ukraine's
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, winn ...
returned to defend his 2010 title and the nine-time champion was the pre-race favourite. The 2010 women's champion,
Jéssica Augusto
Jéssica de Barros Augusto, (born 8 November 1981) is a Portuguese runner who competes in cross country, road running and in middle-distance and long-distance track events. At club level, she represents Sporting CP.
Augusto has enjoyed much ...
, did not enter the competition as she was still recovering from her outing at the
2011 New York City Marathon. The other leading finishers from 2010 –
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
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. and
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 ...
– 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
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 championship ...
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