Gibraltar’s athletes look to inspire at European Cross Country Championships
James Davis talks to Gibraltar team captain Maurice Turnock, ahead of his squad’s participation in the European Cross Country Championships.
If the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team had as large a proportion of its population competing as Gibraltar in this weekend’s European Cross Country Championships, they would need to send just shy of 10,000 athletes.
When Maurice Turnock and his four Gibraltar teammates take to the start line in La Mandria Park, Turin, they will be among 14 nations contesting the team classification alongside the individual competition.
Many major European states, including Austria, Czechia, and Greece, have failed to field squads large enough to form a team.
It is a tired sporting trope to talk of the plucky underdog, looking to succeed against all the odds, and this is not that story.
For these athletes their participation represents as much what athletics in Gibraltar is, as what they hope it will become.
Turnock, leading the team at his third European Championships, is realistic: “We are facing tough competition, we know that. We know we won’t win any medals, we’re not here for the medals. We are here to provide experience and to put Gibraltar on the map.”
Gibraltar being represented at the Championships is key for Turnock: “It shows is there is commitment, a love for the sport, and a love of developing the sport.”
A focus on development should not come as a surprise. Whilst many former internationals go on to work in their federations after their competitive career has ended, Turnock is currently Secretary of Gibraltar Athletics, and teammate Robert Matto is the son of the federation’s Vice President.
As sporting ambassadors when competing in their nation’s red and white, the team captain is aware of the importance of sharing the experience gained when back home: “We try our best to show youngsters what the fruits of their hard work can lead to.
“A lot of people are naturally gifted, but sometimes a lot of athletes, what you put in is what you get out. Hard work sometimes pays off.”
It took until 2004 for Gibraltar’s first participation in these Championships, with their second 12 years later, both events seeing just a single competitor from the territory.
By contrast, 2022 marks the third consecutive occasion where the territory has sent five senior athletes, though they are missing a multiple Gibraltarian record holder in Harvey Dixon, who led the team home last time out in Dublin.
Gibraltar will continue to send teams to these championships, and Turnock has no worries about who might replace the current cohort of internationals: “Gibraltar Athletics, over the past 10-15 years, have been developing the sport in so many ways to try and build a sustainable athletics fraternity, because athletes come and go.”
For those based in a territory measuring under 3 square miles, there are unique challenges.
At home, space is at a premium, exemplified by the finish line of Gibraltar’s sole athletics track sitting less than 100 metres from the Gibraltar Airport runway.
To prepare for the event, Turnock and his team have had to go cross-border: “We don’t have a countryside. Gibraltar is a built-up city.
“The training that we’ve been carrying out is going over to Spain and running in the cross country in Spain, to try and simulate the sort of terrain that we are going to be facing.”
The man likely to lead the Gibraltar squad home is Arnold Rogers, the youngest team member in the squad at 32.
A Commonwealth Games marathon participant this summer, he is the national record holder in with a 2:28:08 clocking in February’s Sevilla Marathon, and Turnock is giving him his full support: “We stand behind him. Certainly I do. I only have words of encouragement for him.”
Casting his thoughts to the very front of the field, Turnock fancies a duel between Italy’s home hero and an all-conquering Norwegian: “I think it’s between [Yeman] Crippa and Jakob [Ingebrigtsen].”
On a course that features an imposing hill and an indoor section, Turnock is philosophical about the challenge that awaits anyone tackling cross country: “The pain is continuous, until the very end, whatever pace.
“I think that everybody feels that same pain, albeit at different levels.”
Whatever pace and whatever pain Gibraltar’s athletes will experience over the 10 kilometres that await them, they will head back to the Rock with experience, tired legs, and enough inspiration to secure the future generation of cross country runners.
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