Sweeney finishes 10th as Farah edges out Rupp

JOE SWEENEY (DSD) finished 10th and helped Europe to victory in the IAAF Cross-Country Team Challenge at the at the snow clad Hollyrood Park in Edinburgh on Saturday.

The big Dubliner, who made adramatic return to form to win the inter-counties cross-country championships in December, was never out of the top 10 in the race and was a comfortable sixth until the eventual winner, double European track champion, Mo Farah, and his soon-to-be training partner, Galen Rupp (USA) made the move that split the field and dropped the nine-time European cross-country champion, Sergey Lebid (Ukraine), with two laps remaining.

Farah, who will leave soon to train in the USA, made his own way home to win the 8.2 km race in 25 mins 41 secs with Rupp second, 25:50 and Spain’s European silver medallist, Ayad Lamdassam, third in 15:55.