It was sad to hear on the sports news yesterday that Alistair Cragg has withdrawn from the Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships on Sunday. The races take place this year in Tilburg in Holland. Whilst it's obviously unfortunate that Alistair is not able to run from an Irish team perspective, it does mean that our very own Paul McNamara has been called into action and will travel to Holland to run this weekend.

Paul finished a very creditable 65th in this Championship in Heringsdorf, Germany last year and may well improve on that this time around. Paul only got the call from the AAI asking him to compete late yesterday evening and was in a little bit of shock when I spoke to him shortly afterwards. I understand RTE have planned to cover this race live on TV on Sunday although that might change now that Cragg, who was a genuine gold medal contender, is no longer running.

I'm sure we can all join in wishing Paul well for this race. I'm sure he'll represent his club and country with distinction in Tilburg on Sunday.

Good Luck Paul!