Welcome Message from the President of
European Athletics

I am delighted to welcome everyone to the SPAR European Cross Country Championships here in Piemonte-La Mandria Park.

This is the 28th edition of these championships and they will take place in the magnificent surroundings of what I’m told is Europe’s second biggest enclosed park – with the races due to finish in the courtyard of the historic La Mandria Castle – and will take place just outside Turin, which has a significant place in world and European athletics history.

Turin, of course, was where the very first European Athletics Championships was staged in 1934 – European Athletics’ very first event even though it preceded the founding of our organisation by 36 years – and so it is particularly poignant that we remember that event in the wake of our most successful continental championships ever this summer in Munich.

We had an outstanding European Athletics Indoor Championships in Turin in 2009 and the memorable 1997 World Cross Country Championships were held in the nearby Parco del Valentino.

This is the first time that the SPAR European Cross Country Championships have been held in the region of Piemonte but we have had three very successful previous editions of these championships elsewhere in Italy: in Ferrara, San Giorgio se Legnano and, most recently in 2016, Chia.

All this demonstrates Italy’s, and Turin’s, athletics heritage and enthusiasm for our sport which has continued to be evident ever since the Italian federation first came to us with the desire to stage these championships; and in so doing becoming the first country to stage the SPAR European Cross Country Championships for a fourth time.

Italian runners have also had considerable cross country success over the years.

Two gold medals thanks to individual and team victories in the women’s U23 race last year meant that the Italian national anthem has now been heard no less than 13 times at these championships and the Azzurri have won 37 medals in total.

Buoyed by a cheering home crowd, I am sure that Italian runners will be in contention to add to those numbers on this occasion.

I would just like to conclude by saying that European Athletics are very grateful to the Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera (FIDAL), the region of Piemonte and all the other institutional partners, as well as the officials and volunteers working with the Local Organising Committee for their dedication, hard work and commitment to staging this event.

Dobromir Karamarinov
European Athletics President

Dobromir Karamarinov

European Athletics President