WITH individual and team medals within reach, Ireland’s cross-country team manager, Anne Keenan-Buckley, made no effort to hide her excitement when she introduced some of her athletes at Santry yesterday ahead of Sunday’s SPAR European cross-country championships.

ALISTAIR CRAGG is selected to run for Ireland in the SPAR European cross-country championships in Santry on December 13.

ALISTAIR CRAGG will get his place on the Irish senior men’s team for the SPAR European cross-country championships if he proves his fitness in tomorrow’s 5k road race in San Jose.

MARY CULLEN underscored her medal potential, while Andrew Led with signalled his intentions for next month’s SPAR European Cross-Country Championships with sweeping victories in the Woodies DIY National Inter-Counties cross-country championships held over Kilbeggan Racecourse yesterday.

MARK HANRAHAN (Leevale) will be targeting a place on the Irish team for the SPAR European cross-country championships when he lines up in defence of his Cork senior crown at Clonakilty Showgrounds on Sunday.

IRELAND’S Martin Fagan will go head-to-head with Great Britain’s Mo Farah in the SPAR European cross-country championships at the Santry Demesne on December 13.

THOMAS CHAMNEY is named on the Irish team in both the 800m and 1,500m for the world athletics championships in Berlin, ruling out arch rival David Campbell, who had been hoping for the 800m berth.

MARY CULLEN managed to win back some pride for Ireland with a fine fourth place in the senior women’s race at the SPAR European Cross-Country Championships in Brussels yesterday as Martin Fagan could only watch from his knees as his medal hopes faded after a crashing fall in the senior men’s race.

A SUSPECTED case of food poisoning cost Ireland dearly at the SPAR European cross-country championships at San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy, yesterday.

MARY CULLEN is ready to challenge for a medal in the senior women’s race at the SPAR European cross-country championships at San Giorgio su Legnana, near Milan, tomorrow but would be happy with a place in the top five or six.

MARK CHRISTIE is not among the medal favourites for the U23 men’s race at the SPAR European cross-country championships in San Giorgio su Legnano, but that won’t bother the 21 year-old Mullingar man on Sunday.

SERGIY LEBID stole the show with a devastating last lap surge to claim his fifth successive title - and his sixth in all - at the SPAR European cross-country championships in Tilburg, overcoming the challenge of Spain’s Alberto Garcia, the European 5,000m champion who only returned from a two-year ban for a positive drugs test last March.

BUPA Cork City Sports received another off-season accolade this week when last summer's edition was ranked sixth on the evaluation list of outdoor meetings for 2005, with the points total reaching a stunning 79,994 - only slightly behind the total for the second-placed meeting.

MULLINGAR clubmates Martin Fagan and Mark Christie could be reunited on the Irish cross-country team for the first time since 2001 when the squad for next month’s SPAR European Cross-Country Championships in Tilburg is announced.

Olympic 5,000 metres finalist Jo Pavey has been selected for the Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland team to compete in the Spar European Cross-Country Championships next month.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN returns to the big stage tomorrow when she lines up for the 13th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in New Delhi.

UP until recently, Ireland appeared certain of team medals in the men’s race at the Spar European cross-country championships but those hopes have long since faded.

Catherina McKiernan has been selected for Ireland’s Spar European Cross-Country Championships despite missing a key meeting.