In-form Ledwith eyeing European glory

ANDREW LEDWITH wants to reproduce the form he showed when winning the national inter-counties cross-country title in Kilbeggan three weeks ago when he lines up for the SPAR European championships at Santry.

A huge following trundled through the mud to cheer the Meathman to his first ever national title – he was a bronze medallist in the NCAA’s a year earlier – and he expects even more will turn up on Sunday.

“Everyone is coming – people who never went to a cross-country race before in their life will be there,” he said. “I would not have missed this for anything.

“I had a bit of a sniffle at the start of the week so I started to taper a few days early. I’ve been preparing for this race since June of last year.

“I would like to think that we have a chance of team medals but that means that every member will have to run extremely well. Last year Italy had four in the top 25 and they did not get a medal.”

He welcomed the fact that Alistair Cragg had been named on the team insisting that with his times on the track he was going to prove a big threat to everyone.

“He is the best athlete in the field and with the home crowd behind him he’ll be afraid of no one,” he said. “There is going to be a huge crowd and they will carry a lot of energy into the race. The support in Edinburgh two years ago was unbelievable.”