Ireland await cross country decision

Athletics : Liam Hennessy is confident Ireland will be successful in their bid to host he European Cross Country Championships…

Athletics: Liam Hennessy is confident Ireland will be successful in their bid to host he European Cross Country Championships in 2009.

The European Athletics Council will meet in Malta tomorrow afternoon to decide whether to award the event to Ireland, France or Poland. If Ireland are successful, the championships will take place in Santry during December of 2009.

Hennessy, who heads up an Irish delegation bound for Malta, is optimistic ahead of tomorrow's decision.

"We have ticked all the boxes that European Athletics were looking for and they were very impressed with the set up when they travelled over to view the course in September so we are very optimistic," explained Hennessy, chairman of Athletics Ireland's high performance committee.

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"When you couple this with our experience in 2002 of hosting a major athletics event I think that will stand us in good stead for these championships if the bid is successful."

Ireland has never hosted the European Cross Country Championships but has hosted the World Cross Country Championships on two occasions, in Limerick in 1974 and then again in Leopardstown in 2002.