2012 WUC Update: Athletes and teams ready to go

LODZ– The final day of preparations for the 18^th World University Cross Country Championship saw all teams arrive safely in Lodz. In total, the official numbers have 23 countries represented, with a total of 76 male and 61 female athletes. In total, 48 officials are accompanying the teams present, accounting for 185 overall participants.

Teams present are Algeria, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine and Poland.
 

Officias race start

Friday morning saw the traditional Officials Race take place in the official race course. More than 25 officials from were registered for the 1-lap of the course and in the end, all participants joined together in a banquet offered by the OC.

The afternoon had two important meetings – first the CISCA meeting, chaired by FISU Executive Committee member Omar Al-Hai, together with Dr. Roland Questel (FISU Medical Committee), Meziane Hasnaoui (FISU International Control Committee), Till Lufft (FISU Technical Committee Chair for Cross Country), Przemyslaw Jagielski (OC representative), Gabriel Kabza (race director) and Piotr Marszal (AZS representative). In attendance were Carlos Cardoso (IAAF delegate), Paulo Ferreira (FISU staff member) and Marek Zielinski  (competition timing official).

CISCA meeting
 

This preparatory meeting was followed by the General Technical meeting that was led by Till Lufft, together with the remaining CISCA members and the Organizing Committee. After the introductions, specific information was provided from FISU Medical committee member Dr. Questel regarding the medical assistance during the event as well as doping control matters that will be conducted according to the FISU Regulations and WADA Rules. This was followed with the nomination of the Technical Committee with representatives chosen from Canada, France and Australia. Further detailed information on the competition, as well as specifics regarding the course and logistics where passed on.

As the clock draws closer to the start, all teams are finalizing preparations and getting ready for the big-event.

(Source: Paulo FERREIRA, WUC Executive Assistant)

 
Participants resting after run