05 December 2008

The IAAF World Cross Country Championships won the Event of the Year Award at the Sunday Mail/sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards 2008 last night in Glasgow (Thursday 4th December).

The event, which saw more than 17,000 athletics fans flock to Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park in March, was one of the biggest global sporting events ever to be staged in Scotland.

The Award comes hot on the heels of further recognition for the event, less than a week after top Scottish Official Alex Jackson was named Official of the Year at the UK Athletics Awards Dinner – Jackson played a key role in the organisation of the World Cross Country in March.

Geoff Wightman, CEO of Scottish Athletics and Chair of the LOC for the World XC said:  

"It was a great way to round off the year for the Edinburgh 2008 LOC, some of whom hadn’t seen each other since March. As well as a table of the Scottish-based team members at the awards, we were delighted to see Cherry Alexander travel up from UKA Birmingham and Paul Hardy, the IAAF Competitions Director, make a special journey from Monaco as a show of support for athletics. Our championship sponsors Bank of Scotland and Highland Spring were also in attendance. I am proud of the way that they and all 600 volunteers delivered the Event of the Year."