Alistair Cragg (24) was born in South Africa. He was 12th in the 10,000 metres at the Athens Olympics and is aiming for a medal over 3,000 metres at the European Indoor Championships in Madrid in March. Alistair went to the USA to run for Southern Methodist University, in Texas, but he dropped out of SMU after a year and returned home. When he returned to America, he was recruited by the University of Arkansas. In his first year at Arkansas, he finished third in the 2001 NCAA cross-country meet, then won the 5000m at the 2002 collegiate indoor track championships. He finished second in the 2002 collegiate cross-country meet, then ran the European Championships for Ireland, where he held citizenship through his grandparents. In 2003 he ran the fastest 3000m ever run by a student at an American university.
Alistair is a hero in Fayetteville, the home of the University of Arkansas, where he still trains. If his final classes at the University work out, and he is selected, he will run the World Cross Country Championships for Ireland.
