Oostende to host 2008 European Cross Country Championships.

The European Athletic Association has awarded the Belgian city of Oostende the right to stage the 2008 European Cross Country Championships.  The award was made during the EAA Council meeting in Varna, Bulgaria, 15-16 October. 

The championships are scheduled to take place on Sunday December 14, 2008. 

Situated on the North Sea coastline, about 100 kilometres from the Belgian capital Brussels, Oostende will forever be remembered by athletics fans for successfully hosting the 2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships on just three weeks notice, after the Irish Government forced the late withdrawal of original hosts, Dublin, due an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the cattle of Ireland and Great Britain. 

"We are delighted to be working with the Belgian Athletic Federation (Ligue Royal Belge d'Athlétisme), the City of Oostende and the other stakeholders" said EAA President Hansjörg Wirz, "we are confident that their organisational experience and the tradition of cross country in Belgium are the basis for a great event in 2008." 

The Council meeting, the penultimate before next April's EAA Congress in Cannes, also featured a report on the EAA's "Need for Change" project given by President Hansjörg Wirz. Wirz updated Council on the progress of the various working groups involved in the project, including those working on the international competition structure for athletics and the possibility of staging a second European Championships in each four-year cycle of the sport.  

It is anticipated that final recommendations will be delivered in early 2007. Council will then forward concrete proposals to the EAA Congress in Cannes. 

Other decisions in Varna included the approval of a new framework of criteria for hosts of future European Cross Country Championships. These new criteria will not only help the cities but first and foremost the organisers and federations which form the LOC for this event. Based on the positive lessons learnt from last summer's European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, the framework will now be developed with details relevant for each of the EAA's events and applied to future bids. 

The next EAA Council meeting will be held after the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham in March 2007.

source EAA