Defending champion Thomas Ayeko of Uganda and newly crowned European under-23 cross-country champion Louise Carton are the latest athletes to sign up for the Antrim International Cross Country, an IAAF Cross Country Permit meeting, on 16 January.Ayeko was a convincing winner in Antrim at the start of 2015, making an early break before going on to win by 13 seconds. It was his second victory at the Greenmount estate, having also won in 2013.Since then, he went on to set a half marathon PB of 1:01:12 in Azpeitia in March and then came within two seconds of that to finish fifth in a high-quality race at the Great North Run in September. More recently, he made his marathon debut with a 2:12:17 clocking in Rennes.Carton has gone from strength to strength this year. The 21-year-old has smashed all of her PBs on the track in 2015 and last week defeated a quality field to win the under-23 title at the European Cross Country Championships in Hyeres.In Antrim she will be lining up against 2013 world 10,000m bronze medallist Belaynesh Oljira and world junior cross-country bronze medallist Etagegn Woldu.Organisers for the IAAF

Defending champion Thomas Ayeko of Uganda and newly crowned European under-23 cross-country champion Louise Carton are the latest athletes to sign up for the Antrim International Cross Country, an IAAF Cross Country Permit meeting, on 16 January.

Ayeko and Carton set to compete in Antrim

Sifan Hassan and Ali Kaya delivered dominant performances to win the senior titles at the European Cross Country Championships in the French town of Hyeres on Sunday (13).The senior men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s races saw Kaya and Hassan stamp their class on their respective fields on a day of fast and furious racing.Hassan surprised many by dictating the pace from early on in the women&rsquo;s race. The world 1500m bronze medallist was in no mood to wait around, even over 8km. But the Dutch athlete almost paid the price for her impatience.&ldquo;At the beginning, I wanted to win, of course, at least to do my best,&rdquo; said Hassan. &ldquo;When the race started, as a 1500m runner, the pace was too slow for me, it seemed really easy, so I kicked. But then, it became harder and harder. The hills were difficult to go up and I got tired. The last kilometre was really very, very difficult.&rdquo;Spain&rsquo;s Trihas Gebre tried to go with the searing pace set by the flying Dutch woman but eventually faded to 11th. Britain&rsquo;s Steph Twell and Kate Avery were in the chasing bunch along with Norway&rsquo;s Karoline Grovdal and Ireland&rsquo;s two-time winner Fionnuala McCormack (nee Britton).&ldquo;I think maybe Hassan threw people with her race plan,&rdquo; said McCormack, who just missed out on a medal in fourth. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure but I thought with her track speed she would have had no need to be tearing off at the start.&rdquo;Avery took silver for the second year in succession but was ultimately delighted with her performance, given her personal circumstances. &ldquo;It was a totally different race from last year,&rdquo; said the Brit who edged Grovdal for the silver by two seconds. &ldquo;I feel like I really had to build up for that second place. I did not really expect to be here. My dad recently passed away. He was my biggest support. I thought a lot about him today.&rdquo;There was no surprise in the team race with Great Britain winning on 33 points ahead of France in second and Ireland in third. <h3>Another gold for Turkey</h3>The men&rsquo;s 10km started off as a repeat of last year&rsquo;s race in the ski resort of Samokov when Turkish duo Ali Kaya and Polat Kemboi Arikan were locked together with Spain&rsquo;s two-time winner Alemayehu Bezabeh.The trio looked set to be the three medallists once more and were a class above the field, setting a scorching pace on the deceptively tough firm and fast course that their continental rivals could not match. But it was last year&rsquo;s champion Arikan who cracked, leaving it to Kaya and Bezabeh for gold.Bezabeh looked smooth and controlled as he traversed the rolling hills and led past halfway, potentially on his way to a hat-trick of titles.But Kaya, who won the 5000m and 10,000m double at the European Under-23 Championships in Estonia last summer, was determined to win gold and ultimately cruised to victory, waving to the large crowds on his way to the finish.&ldquo;I am very happy because I finished second last year,&rdquo; said Kaya on turning silver into gold. &ldquo;It was important for me to win today. I planned to kick on the last lap and that's exactly what I did.&rdquo;Bezabeh had to settle for the silver but with Arikan dropping out it left his compatriot Adel Mechaal the opportunity to take bronze as the Spaniards romped to the team title. With Ayad Lamdassem finishing fourth and Ilias Fifa taking fifth, Spain&rsquo;s winning score of 14 was the lowest ever in the history of the championships.Host nation France were second with Great Britain third.<h3>Carton and Davies take under-23 titles</h3>Belgium&rsquo;s Louise Carton impressed in winning the women&rsquo;s under-23 race ahead of the Netherlands&rsquo; Jip Vastenburg in second and Serbia&rsquo;s European under-23 1500m champion Amela Terzic garnering bronze.&ldquo;This is amazing,&rdquo; said the Belgian who controlled most of the race from the front. &ldquo;I knew I was strong but the other girls are strong as well and I didn't know how they would perform. I was feeling good anyway. During the race, I wanted to take the lead to extend the gap because I felt like I was in control.&rdquo;Great Britain won the team title with France in second and Italy third.Jonathan Davies wouldn&rsquo;t quote directly what he was thinking as he sprinted down the home straight in the Hippodrome in Hyeres ahead of Spain&rsquo;s Carlos Moya to win gold in the men&rsquo;s under-23 race but his tactics worked to perfection.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you exactly what I was thinking,&rdquo; joked Davies afterwards on his sprint to the line. &ldquo;My plan was to sit in and kick towards the end and it worked out perfectly.&rdquo;Germany&rsquo;s Amanal Petros was somewhat of a surprise in third on his international debut. Spain edged Great Britain by two points for the team title with France in third.&nbsp; <h3>Crippa repeats as Klosterhalfen surprises</h3>Germany's Konstanze Klosterhalfen won the junior women&rsquo;s 4km in 13:12, causing a surprise ahead of her favoured country woman Alina Reh and becoming the first German woman to win the junior title.Britain&rsquo;s Harriet Knowles-Jones also upset the apple cart in second with Reh, who won the 3000m and 5000m at this year&rsquo;s European Junior Championships, having to settle for bronze after a poor start.Germany denied Britain their sixth team title in succession with Denmark in third.Italy&rsquo;s Yemaneberhan Crippa retained his junior men&rsquo;s crown with a dominant performance. Last year Crippa took advantage of Russian Alexsandr Novikov&rsquo;s mistake when he miscounted the laps, but there was no doubting the Italian&rsquo;s class this year.&ldquo;I am very happy,&rdquo; said Crippa. &ldquo;It was not easy today. The course was very tough but it was very nice as well. This is the best race of my career.&rdquo;France&rsquo;s Fabien Palcau was the best of the rest in second with Spain&rsquo;s El Madhi Lahoufi third. There was joy for France winning team gold ahead of Italy and Great Britain.With nine medals, three of them gold, Britain topped the overall medals table.Feidhlim Kelly for the IAAF

Sifan Hassan and Ali Kaya delivered dominant performances to win the senior titles at the European Cross Country Championships in the French town of Hyeres on Sunday (13).

Hassan and Kaya victorious at European Cross Country Championships

Linet Masai has struggled with illness and injury in recent years but the 2009 world 10,000m champion is rounding into some good form again.A week after winning in Soria, Spain, she travelled about 200km south and decimated an international line-up at the 34th edition of the Cross Internacional de la Constitucion in Alcobendas on Sunday (29).A three-time runner-up at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Masai showed glimmers of that form on the park circuit in Madrid&rsquo;s northern suburb as she dominated the senior women&rsquo;s race in 28:41 to regain the title she won seven years ago when she was a junior. Ireland&rsquo;s two-time European cross country champion Fionnuala McCormack (nee Britton) was second in 29:17 while Spain&rsquo;s Trihas Gebre &ndash; the leading non-African finisher at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships Guiyang 2015 this March &ndash; was an isolated third in 29:52.Britton and Gebre will face each other again in two weeks&rsquo; time at the European Cross Country Championships in Hyeres, France where they will both be in the hunt for medals. A week after winning the Great Ethiopian Run on the roads over 10km in Addis Ababa, Tamirat Tola showed his versatility by claiming victory in the senior men&rsquo;s 9.28km race ahead of reigning champion Timothy Toroitich from Uganda and world cross-country bronze medallist Muktar Edris, also from Ethiopia.Tola, whose repertoire also includes a 27:22.64 10,000m and a best time of 2:06:17 for the marathon, had the company of Toroitich until the seventh kilometre but the latter faded badly in the closing stages. The Ethiopian broke the tape in 29:28 to become the first Ethiopian winner of the men&rsquo;s race in Alcobendas since Gebre Gebremariam defended his title in 2009, with Toroitich losing some 37 seconds on the winner in the last two kilometres. Edris was third in 30:16.Another Spanish race, the 24th edition of the Cross Hiru-Herri which took place in Burlada on Sunday, produced home wins for Abdelaziz Merzoughi in the 9.8km men&rsquo;s race in 28:55 and Paula Gonzalez in the 6km women&rsquo;s race in 19:47.<h3>African juniors dominate proceedings in Leffrinckoucke</h3>At the Cross de l&rsquo;Acier in Leffrinckoucke, East African juniors dominated the senior races. In the men&rsquo;s race over 9.95km, Kenya&rsquo;s world junior cross-country bronze medallist Alfred Ngeno beat the Ethiopian duo of Leul Gebrselassie and Yihulign Adane to win in 30:06 while Guiyang silver medallist Dera Dida led an Ethiopian clean sweep in the 6.65km women&rsquo;s race, crossing the line in 24:13. Her compatriots, African junior 5000m silver medallist Sintayehu Lewetegn and Bezunesh Getachew, came home four and five seconds adrift respectively.Up-and-coming Belgian distance runner Louise Carton took the spoils at the CrossCup van West-Vlaanderen in Roeselare on Sunday. The 21-year-old won the 6.25km race in 22:21, nine seconds ahead of Sweden&rsquo;s 20-year-old Sarah Lahti.Comprising the podium in the senior women&rsquo;s race was the 42-year-old Veerle Dejaeghere. Having recently sealed the Olympic qualifying time for the marathon, Dejaeghere returned to her favoured surface to finish third in 22:38 ahead of strong cross-country exponents such as compatriot Almensh Belete (22:48) and Jip Vastenburg (22:51) from the Netherlands. Kenya&rsquo;s Alex Kibet won the men&rsquo;s 10km race in 30:23, two seconds ahead of the local star Isaac Kimeli, who was second in the European under-23 5000m this summer.At the Carsolina Cross in Trieste on Sunday, Patrick Nasti won the senior men&rsquo;s race in 25:49 with 2012 European cross-country champion Andrea Lalli a non-finisher just four weeks after finishing 11th at the New York Marathon.Barbara Bressi won the women&rsquo;s senior race in 23:54.<h3>Ngetich and Chepkoech continue winning form in Nyahururu&nbsp; </h3>Cleophas Ngetich claimed his second victory of the AK/KCB Cross Country Series in Nyahururu on Saturday (28). A fortnight after winning the second leg in Embu, Ngetich ensured back-to-back wins on the domestic circuit with a decisive victory over 10km in 30:30. He defeated a solid field including Kenyan junior cross-country champion Dominic Kiptarus and 2007 world youth 1500m champion Fredrick Musyoki, who were second and third in 30:43 and 30:51.Four weeks after winning the opening race of the series, Caroline Chepkoech also continued her fine form with her second win on home soil in the space of a month. The 21-year-old ran away from Margaret Chelimo, who finished 13th at this year&rsquo;s IAAF World Cross Country Championships, to win the senior women&rsquo;s race in 35:01 and by 17 seconds. Sheila Chepkirui, who won the world youth 1500m title at the age of 14 a decade ago, was third in 35:24. Gemma Steel claimed her third title in a row at the Liverpool Cross Challenge on Saturday, which doubled up as the British trial race for the European Cross Country Championships in two weeks&rsquo; time.In a repeat of last year&rsquo;s race continental championship in Samokov, Bulgaria, where Steel outlasted Kate Avery for the title on a frozen course, Steel ground out another win over 8km in Liverpool&rsquo;s Sefton Park. She broke the tape in 27:31 with Avery two seconds in arrears.Steph Twell comprised the podium in 27:47 while Laura Muir &ndash; who enjoyed an outstanding summer on the track capped by a 3:58.66 1500m personal best in Monaco &ndash; finished fifth in 27:57. The latter will contest the under-23 title at the European Cross Country Championships.In the senior men&rsquo;s 10km race, Ross Millington claimed a comfortable win in 30:09 ahead of Dewi Griffiths in 30:22.At the Canadian Cross Country Championships staged in Kingston, Ontario on Saturday, Canadian 10,000m record-holder Natasha Wodak retained her title in the senior women&rsquo;s 8km in 27:14, coming home three seconds ahead of marathon specialist Rachel Hannah.In the senior men&rsquo;s 10km, Ross Proudfoot took the spoils in 30:07, winning by three seconds from Alex Genest. Steven Mills (with assistance from Kip Evans) for the IAAF

Linet Masai has struggled with illness and injury in recent years but the 2009 world 10,000m champion is rounding into some good form again.

Ayeko and Carton set to compete in Antrim

Hassan and Kaya victorious at European Cross Country Championships

Masai and Tola build on their momentum in Alcobendas – cross-country round-up