By Cliona Foley
THERE were few cross-country exponents in the country ever better than her, so when Irish team manager Anne Keenan-Buckley says that the senior women offer our best chance of medals tomorrow, you can believe her.
Yet even Mary Cullen (fourth last year) and the senior women's team will have a serious battle to make the podium as the cream of Europe's mudlarks descend on Santry Demesne tomorrow for the 16th SPAR European Cross-Country Championships.
It's the first time that the Irish federation has hosted a European event of any kind, but when they previously hosted major cross-country events -- the World Championships in 1979 and 2002 -- they didn't fail to win medals; John Treacy took gold and a men's team silver in Limerick in '79, while a women's team bronze was garnered in Leopardstown in '02 when Sonia O'Sullivan was seventh and Keenan-Buckley 10th.
However, the sport has moved on since and, with World Cross-Country now so dominated by African athletes, it's at European level that Ireland can be most competitive.
Four-time world silver medallist Catherina McKiernan gustily held off Spain's Julia Vaquero to win the inaugural Euro Cross' title in Anlwick in 1994, yet there have only been two individual and one team medals since.
optimism
Gareth Turnbull took a junior bronze in '98 and Fionnula Britton took silver in the inaugural U-23 races in Italy in '06.
In '04 in Germany, we had the junior men of Mark Christie (fifth), Andrew Ledwith (seventh), Danny Darcy (11th) and Jamie McCarthy (31st).
Like Cullen in Brussels last year, Linda Byrne has also come fourth as a junior and the fact that she, Cullen and Britton are all on this year's senior women's team has created the optimism about their chances.
One perennial difficulty is getting everyone fit and available, particularly as it comes so close to the US collegiates and college exams everywhere.
But hosting the championship on a course that has thrice hosted the national inter-counties has proved a big incentive for all of Ireland's top athletes to commit themselves.
Racing in Dublin should give them a leg-up, once they pace themselves properly and don't get carried away by the home support.
David McCarthy and Shane Quinn are two absences that weaken Ireland's depth at underage level but, as Keenan-Buckley says: "We have the strongest senior women and men's team that we've ever had."
Apart from rising superstar Ciara Mageean and Charlotte French-O'Carroll (now on scholarship in Providence) the junior girls' team is ostensibly a development one.
The U-23 and junior (U-20) girls teams did best for Ireland last year (both fourth) but Keenan-Buckley believes AAI's unwillingness to run its juveniles over longer distances, like they do in Britain, militates against them making more successful transitions.
Quite why Britain (apart from their numerical advantage) is so much more successful than Ireland is still a burning question.
They won team medals in every grade last year, including three golds (both U-23s and one junior).
Their junior women did a remarkable sweep of the first six places and in Steph Twell, Charlotte Purdue (currently injured) and Kate Avery, they have rising stars.
Britain also include '06 champion Mo Farah; the only man to dethrone the Ukraine's defending men's champion and eight-time senior winner, Sergiy Lebid.
Sweden's '08 bronze medallist, Mustafa Mohamed, is also there and French runners Mokhtar Benhari and Driss El Himer should also be in the mix but it's Alemayehu Bezabeh who has shown great form this winter and he'll lead a strong Spanish challenge.
Italy's former junior and reigning U-23 champion, Andrea Lalli, has noticeably also opted to run in the senior race.
Neither reigning women's champion Hilda Kibet (Netherlands) or '07 champion Marta Dominguez are racing, which opens up the women's field for Cullen.
But the runners who took silver and gold ahead of her in Brussels last year -- former junior champions Jessica Augusto and Ines Monteiro -- will again lead a strong Portugese team.
Spain's Rosa Morato and Holland's Adriennce Herzog (fifth and sixth last year) are also involved, as is Britain's '04 champion Hayley Yelling, who noticeably won the British trials after coming out of retirement.
After the opening ceremony at 10am the race schedule is: Junior Women 10.15; Junior Men 11.0; U-23 Women 11.40; U-23 Men 12.25; Senior Women 1.15; Senior Men 2.10.
All parking will, strictly, be at Gulliver's Retail Park, Northwood, accessed from the Ballymun Road.
16th European Cross-Country C'ships
Live, tomorrow, RTE 2, 11.30 (including junior race highlights)
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