A mix of new and familiar faces make up the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team for the European Mountain Running Championships, which has been announced.
Amongst them is Emma Clayton (coach: Andrew Henderson) who won silver at last year’s IAAF World Mountain Running Championships over an up and down course, the same format that the 2014 European Championships will take. Clayton was second to Italian Alice Gaggi there, and will be looking to get amongst the medals again in Gap, France on 12 July.
She will be joined in the senior women’s team by another former international medallist, Sarah Tunstall, who was eighth at the World Championships in Poland last year. With the addition of Katie Walshaw (Katherine Farquhar) and debutant Megan Crawford (Ron Morrison) the team will be heading to the South of France in pursuit of a medal.
The senior men’s team contains a similar mix of youth and experience, with trials winner Robbie Simpson (Martin Cox), leading the charge. Simpson has been an ever present in the GB & NI team for the European Championships since entering the senior ranks three years ago, with 19th his best finish to date. He’ll be joined by former junior international Tom Addison (Billy Proctor), who along with Inter Counties winner Shaun Dixon (Ben Noad) and trials runner up Andrew Douglas (Sophie Dunnett), all make their debuts at this level.
The junior women’s team historically perform exceptionally well at this championship, and it is envisaged this will continue thanks to a team that includes Georgia Malir (Henderson) and Catriona Graves, who were fifth and sixth respectively at last year’s World Championships. The junior men’s team will be spearheaded by Andrew Lawler (David Campbell) who won the trial race by over a minute and was part of this team last year.
On the team’s prospects, team leader Sarah Rowell commented:
“As is often the case with our European Championship teams, we have nice blend of new and familiar faces. The likes of Emma and Sarah have been there and done it before at this level, and so know what it takes to perform on the day. Last year we secured three of the four team medals on offer at both the European and World Championships, so it would be great to replicate that and challenge for individual medals.”
For further information on mountain running head to http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/competitions/mountain-running-challenge/
GREAT BRITAIN & NORTHERN IRELAND TEAM:
SENIOR MEN:
Tom Addison (Billy Proctor)
Shaun Dixon (Ben Noad)
Andrew Douglas (Sophie Dunnett)
Robbie Simpson (Martin Cox)
SENIOR WOMEN:
Emma Clayton (Andrew Henderson)
Megan Crawford (Ron Morrison)
Sarah Tunstall
Katie Walshaw (Katherine Farquhar)
JUNIOR MEN:
Jacob Adkin (Gregor Nicholson)
Iolo Hughes (Andrew Walling)
Andrew Lawler (David Campbell)
Ciaran Lewis (Phil Banning)
JUNIOR WOMEN:
Catriona Graves (John Bell)
Zara Knappy (Andrew Henderson)
Georgia Malir (Andrew Henderson)
Lydia Sharpe (Jackie Newton/David Lowes)
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