2025 Celtic Cross Country and UK Cross Challenge

This event will be held on Saturday 8th February 2025 in conjunction with the Home Nations XC and the British Cross Challenge in Leeds.

Teams will be selected for the international elements of the event, which will incorporate the Celtic XC International.

U20 men’s and women’s NI & Ulster Teams only. Up to a maximum of 4 Men and 4 Women per team. Potential athletes must be U20 31^st December 2025.

Selection – We require any interested athletes to submit an expression of interest to Mark Kirk by email to mark.kirk@athleticsni.org before midnight on the 12^th of January. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WILL BE A CONDITION OF SELECTION AND ATHLETES WILL RECEIVE CONFIRMATION BY EMAIL.

The panel will base the selection on current form, recent past performances, and performance history in cross-country.

The aim is to select the strongest possible team to represent NI and Ulster at this event. The panel may use their discretion when necessary and there is no right of appeal for this selection.

The selection panel will meet during the week beginning 12^th of January and the teams will be announced on the Athletics NI website once the final selections have been confirmed.

Selection Panel: Selections will be made by the Athletics Northern Ireland & Ulster Athletics selection panel comprising,

1. A representative of the Cross Country & Road Running Committee (Voting)
2. The Athletics NI Endurance Coordinator (voting)
3. A representative of Ulster Athletics Council (voting)
4. An Independent Coach (voting)
5. Independent Chair (casting vote)

 

The chair of the selection panel may direct that assistance is sought (in a non-voting capacity) from anyone else that they feel may be of help. Any voting member of the Selection Panel shall declare any known conflict of interest in respect of any selection issue and shall not be entitled to vote on that issue.

Appeals Process - There shall be no right of appeal to the selection made by the panel.

De-Selection Process - De-selection of an athlete may occur following

 

1. Failure to adhere to the Athletics NI athlete code of conduct.
2. Failure to achieve the standard fitness testing protocols

In the event that an athlete sustains an injury following acceptance of their position on the team, they are required to inform the ANI Endurance Coordinator immediately.

Confirmation of Team Staff - The team management positions will be appointed as required to support the team and will be confirmed by the Panel following the selection of the athletes.

Clean Sport - All athletes competing at the Celtic 2025 XC and UK Cross Challenge shall be deemed to have made themselves familiar with, and agreed to be bound by, the UKA Anti-Doping Rules and to submit to the authority of UK Anti-Doping in the application and enforcement of the Anti-Doping Rules.

The UKA Anti-Doping Rules apply to entrants participating in the sport of Athletics, for 12 months from the date of the entry to the event, whether or not the athlete is a citizen of, or resident in, the UK.

To check the status of registered medicines, please visit www.globaldro.com. For information on the Clean Athletics programme, testing procedures and for a copy of the full UKA Anti-Doping rules, please visit www.uka.org.uk/cleanathletics. For general Clean Athletics queries, please contact enquiries@cleanathletics.org.

Right to amend - Athletics NI reserves the right to amend this Selection Policy at its sole discretion and will make any amended version publicly available (including the date on which the amendment was made) at www.athleticsni.org.