The best cross country runners in Europe descended on Dublin for the staging of the 2009 European Cross Country Championships in Santry on Sunday 13th December. It was the first staging of a European Athletics Championship event in Ireland and it was great to see Martin Fagan in action, flying the flag for Mullingar Harriers on such an occasion.

The Irish Senior Men’s team finished a very creditable 6th and Martin certainly played his part as a valuable scoring member. Martin may have been initially a little disappointed with his finishing position of 26th but he can be satisfied that he delivered a solid performance considering the injury problems he has had to overcome this season.

It was great to see such a large turnout of Club members in Santry to support Martin and the other Irish competitors. It was particularly good to see so many of our juvenile members take the opportunity to witness competition at this level and they can now strive to emulate Martin by competing for Ireland in competitions such as this in the coming years.

Spare a thought for Mark Christie who was forced to withdraw from the Irish team due to a recent illness. It was unfortunate for Mark considering his excellent early season form, but he can now look forward to a very exciting track season.