The IAAF will celebrate their 40th anniverary of the World Cross Country Championships when they are held in Bydgoszcz, Poland on the 24th of March next year. Back in 1973, the new IAAF format replaced the International Cross Country Championships that had been run over the previous 70 years. Only 21 countries took part in the first World Cross Country Championships, which were held in Waregem, Belgium on 17 March 1973. Entries nowadays are more than three times that number. And only two African nations were in attendance – Tunisia and Morocco, who sent only male entrants.
No African runner earned a medal in either the men’s senior or junior races, with the highest placed being Tunisia’s Abdelkader Zadem, who finished 20th in the senior race. The first men’s title went to Finland’s 23-year-old Pekka Paivarinta who finished just 0.1 seconds ahead of Mariano Haro of Spain.
The photo on the left shows the Finn Pekka Paivarinta but who is the Irish athlete?.........and what club was he with? Comments...???
4 comments:
Neil Cusack of Limerick
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Cusack
Neil Cusack. Limerick Legend who won the Boston and Dublin Marathons!
Neil Cusack of Limerick. Awesome athlete.
No prize money for winning boston.
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