We're off to Bydgoszcz, aka the "Big Dog"!


Faithful readers, paulmerca.blogspot.com is off to Bydgoszcz, Poland for Sunday's IAAF World Cross Country Championships!

I've had the opportunity to cover this event consecutively since 2001, when we were in Oostende, Belgium.

As this photo, courtesy of the Bydgoszcz local organizing committee shows, it's been snowing, so this could be interesting--think Boston 1992 interesting!

Some of the stories we will watch in Bydgoszcz (or as Pennsylvania based running photographer Patti Stirk affectionally calls the "Big Dog") include Spokane preps Andrew Gardner and Katie Knight in the junior race representing Team USA; Glacier Peak HS standout Amy-Eloise Neale in the junior women's race representing Great Britain; and former Eastern Washington All-American Mattie Suver in the women's senior race.

It will be interesting to see how Neale fares after flying back to the USA after the British trials, then having to fly back to the Continent a week later.  

That's a lot of air travel for a young lady in such a short time.

On the domestic front, most of the Washington schools are in action this weekend, with the Huskies and Cougars competing at the USC Invitational in Los Angeles.

We will post a preview of this weekend's action when we get to the other side of the Atlantic…I will be in Paris in about 12 hours, and then a 7 hour layover, followed by a flight to Warsaw, and a train ride to Bydgoszcz.

Talk to you when I get to Poland!

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