WHEN the President of Athletics Ireland, Liam Hennessy, launched the bid to bring the SPAR European cross-country championships to Dublin in Italy in 2006, Mo Farah was a surprise winner of the senior men’s title.

SERGEY LEBID claimed his seventh title but Spaniard, Marta Dominguez, deprived the Ukraine of a double by stripping Tetyana Holovchenko of the senior women’s crown as Ireland claimed plenty of top 10 placings but no medals at the European cross-country championships in Toro, Spain, yesterday.