Mo Farah Withdraws from next European Cross Country Race
Mo Farah, the Somalia-born current champion of the European Cross Country Race title will not be able to defend his crown in the next Cross Country competition next month due to his ongoing recovery from a groin injury. This competition was scheduled in Toro Spain, on December 9.
He was pre-selected to win a second successive title has also withdrawn his participation from the Norwich Union GB team competition in the Chiba Ekiden Relays this Friday, November 23, 2007. His decision to not participate in these competitions was because he wants to conserve his energies for the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics. He fears that joining the race in Toro will only aggravate his
injury.
However, despite not participating in these races, he has made a decision to continue his training in South Africa for the whole month of January. He has admitted to being disappointed at the proposition of not defending his title but he emphasized that 2008 was a key year and the Beijing Olympics is top priority. He also says that he had already made great performances during 2007, and had made a special mention of Osaka, which he claims to be his sign that he is indeed going in the right direction, and it is very important that he doesn't do anything to jeopardize it, hence playing safe and standing by the recovery process.
Because the former champion won't be able to compete, it goes without saying that his absence will fuel the competitiveness in both the actual race and the trial race in Sefton Park, Liverpool, where the second UK Cross Challenge event of the winter season will take place.
