Euro Trials: Sefton Park, Liverpool

Europeanmale; Did you start this debate last year on the old uniathletics site?Are you dutch?I can see what you're getting at. but I think the world has become too 'inter-racially-mixed' (official term!) to create rules like that.Fast forward 20 years - would you allow Mo's children to compete in the Euros?? most people have different continents blood in their recent family tree.The way I see it, Mo is British. Raised in britain, british schooling, british accent, british way of life, loyal to Britian. So if he is British for all those reasons you cannot, therefore state he is not european. It's too hypercritical. It's like saying John Barnes could've played for England in the world cup but not the European championship.By the way- Billy farquarson will make the Euro team.

europeanmale wrote:

Mo Farah should never have been allowed into the European Champs in the first place. He is NOT a European, he IS an African.

Would you say the same of a white-South African born runner?

europeanmale - you are a prize knobhead.

If an athlete is born outside Europe, with non-European parents/grandparents, then i would bar them from European Champs.

I never took membership to uniathletics.com? No.

Not Dutch.

I am not TRYING to be controversial, it is a genuine concern that i have for the sport, and one that is shared by many people around Europe. Sadly, we are always too afraid to say anything, for fear of being called out as racists. I am not a racist, i just want to know that if i am in the top 10 native Brits at xc, that i do not have to race a bunch of Africans to gain selection to run in the European XC, is this an outrageous wish?

I respect the African athletes, but i do not wish to see them running in a non-African championship.

If they do not qualify by birth, parents/grandparents, then no, they should not be allowed to race in a European Championship. They are AFRICAN!

Sheffield Steel wrote:

europeanmale - you are a prize knobhead.

If you had grown up in Sheffield when they actually produced a lot of steel, then you would probably have a different opinion. However, if thats your educated response, then that's fine, as you probably just aren't particularly educated. Well done for trying.

not sure if its the drink - but i agree with the euromale...no africans in the european champs pse

ill just have to beat Geele, in case he gets a passport

He will get one, as uka are doing their best to help him get one.Because if he can make the team any better than it helps uka officals keep their jobs. As its all about winning medals and no caring about how you get them. Forget development just inport africans.

Hate to agree with some of the points on here that are verging on outright racisim but.... remember when Kipketer ran for Denmark and they another guy running the 1500 for them and some of the guys used to joke about how in 15 years it would be a case of ...'our Africans are better than your Africans'....is not quite as bad as that but its getting there isn't....

Yeh, the world is a challenging place and things change over time, white british born runners are going to feel upset that an african has beaten us, however if you think about it with perspective, you will never be able to have a 'british' only race to see who is the best 'british white' xc runner, that would cause a revolt and would never be allowed

I dont blame UKA officials they are doing their jobs.

The reality is that black africans are better distance runners than white europeans - genetically. That doesnt mean we cant beat them but over time they will have greater runners and greater depth.

So as the european africans like Mo reproduce and start to dominate xc in european it will become a sport for blacks of african orgin, and us white europeans will move our interest to a sport we can win at.... like chess.

Unfortunately the european-african community is large enough to take xc forward from a overall sport point of view, they wont be able to create a large enough influence on the sporting world condeming XC and (other distance events) to being a minority sport for blacks.

So lets enjoy what we do have left in the way of success.... Go Mo! No sorry... go Pete Riley!!

Just thought I'd point out that Mo is currently slower than Dave Moorcroft over 800, 1500, 3000 and 5000.

So it's not impossible to compete with the africans, we've just fogotten how to do it! 30 years ago, there were guys finishing outside the top 500 in the National CC Champs who could run 32 for 10k. The difference was that there were 100's of guys in the country doing 100+ miles a week.

Now, even are top guys don't seem to train that hard.

The quality of our best guys in my opinion is directly proportional to the base and quality of the pyramid. The faster and more numerous the also rans, the better the leaders have got to(and will)be.

Just a few interesting stats:

National 12 Stage 1995 11th place team 4:09:06

35th 4:23:36

2007 1st team 4:11:31

12th place team 4:24:05

In 1995, the 20th fastest long leg was 26:02. In 2007 this would have been about 6th fastest. I've only chosen 1995 as I dont have the stats for the 1980's to hand.

National CC:

In 1983, the 750th runner was 7:05 behind the 5th placed athlete.

In 2007 the 750th was 17:31 behind 5th place.

In 2007, 7:05 behind 5th would have been 274th. 470 runners have disappeared from this part of the pyramid. And this assumes that the 2007 5th placer is as good as the 1983 5th placer (Bernie Ford).

Draw your own conclusions.

National CC

In