2015 European Cross Country Championships Both senior individual runners were non-European born (Kenya for Kaya and Ethiopia for Hassan). All of the top five finishers in the men's race were born outside Europe. 2015 European Cross Country Championships The 2015 European Cross Country Championships was the 22nd edition of the cross country running competition for European athletes. It was hosted in Hyères, France. The 2014 runner-up Ali Kaya took the men's senior title, retaining the crown for Turkey. Spain, led by 2013 champion Alemayehu Bezabeh, returned to the top of the team rankings in that category. Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands was the women's senior
2009 European Cross Country Championships had hosted the World Cross Country Championships in 1979 and 2002, but this was the first time that Ireland had ever hosted a major European athletics competition. The course was situated in Santry Demense Park adjacent the national track and field stadium, Morton Stadium, which is the home stadium for Clonliffe Harriers – the oldest athletics club in Ireland. The course's looped design allowed for races of varying lengths through the use of laps. The four race lengths were: for the senior men's race, for the senior women's and men's under-23 competitions, for the under-23 women and junior men, and