Steph Twell gave the Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland Team a golden start to the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy, on Sunday 10 December.
The 17-year-old, who will still be a Junior in 2008, powered to victory in the Junior Women’s race, leading Norwich Union GB to the Team Gold medals. This was followed by the Norwich Union GB Under 23 Women’s Team also taking Gold. And the Norwich Union GB Senior Women’s Team missed completing the hat trick by the narrowest of margins, losing to Portugal on count back by only one place.
Here is the story of how the women again played the major part in putting Norwich Union GB top of the medals table for the fourth successive year …
Senior Women (8030m)
Hayley Yelling (Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow), the European Champion of 2003, produced another heroic run to lead Norwich Union GB Senior Women to within a whisker of the Team Gold medals.
She finished sixth in 25 minutes 28 seconds, overtaken in the last dozen strides by Julie Coulard (France), who was given the same time but crucially placed fifth. “I didn’t know she was so close to me,” said Yelling afterwards. “I thought I was clear. I know it’s easy to say, but I could have beaten her if I had known she was near but in the din I never heard her until she was passing me and it was too close to the line to do anything about it.”
This drama happened only seven seconds behind a great battle for the individual medals. Tatyana Holovchenko (Ukraine) won in 25:17, one second ahead of Maria Konovalova (Russia) with Olivera Jevtic (Serbia) collecting her fifth Bronze medal in these Championships in 25:21. They were followed over the line by Aniko Kalovics (Hungary), who clocked 25:28.
Jo Pavey (Exeter Harriers), eighth in 25:38, did not suffered as badly as some track stars: European 10,000m Champion Inga Abitova (Russia), for example, finished 31st in 26:39 after leading in the early stages.
But Pavey, whose dislike of muddy conditions is legendary, said: “It was too hard for me. They should be talking about Hayley not me when they’re discussing cross country prospects. I gave it a go but the other girls are too strong. I shall have to toughen up a bit, I suppose.”
Liz Yelling (Bedford and County), 15th in 25:56 after her autumn marathon exploits in Berlin and Amsterdam followed by time off to recover from a shoulder operation, said: “I’ve not been able to do enough training to be as fit as I usually am. I’ve had four weeks proper training – not enough time to get the speedwork in. I couldn’t have done any more in this race.”
Kate Reed (Bristol and West), determined as ever to represent her country with pride, was ahead of Liz for some time and battled home 18th in 26:08, overtaken agonisingly by Monica Rosa (Portugal) so close to the line that both were given the same time. It proved to be the moment that settled Team Gold and Silver medals. Both nations closed-in with 47 points; Portugal took Gold because their fourth counter finished one place ahead of Norwich Union GB’s fourth counter.
“I felt dreadful,” said Reed. “I had nothing in me whatsoever towards the end but I knew I dare not drop out because I was fourth counter. We always get the Silver medals when I’m in the team.”
Helen Clitheroe (Preston Harriers), who stepped in as a late reserve when Natalie Harvey was forced to withdraw because of illness, finished 29th in 26:37 and said: “It was one of those races where everyone seemed to be going past. It was horrendous. Coming in to the team late, I wasn’t as prepared as I would otherwise have been for the event. Luckily, the girls did well – as usual.”
Felicity Milton (Durham University), 35th of the 60 athletes in 26:49 on her GB debut barely three months after she began to take athletics seriously, said: “I ran my hardest. I wouldn’t say it’s the easiest race. The start was horrible. I got a really bad start. I just kept thinking, ‘Fast and relaxed … fast, relaxed…” all the way round. And I completed it. I was aware of the fact that team medals were up for grabs and I am thrilled with Silver. The whole weekend has been a fantastic experience – and I always think silver looks prettier than gold.”
Under 23 Women (5975m)
Valiant Aine Hoban (Wakefield Harriers) led the Norwich Union Under 20 Women to Team Gold – and missed an individual medal by a mere second after a magnificent run.
She forced her way into third place with a little more than 200m to go and held the podium place until the final 30m when Turkan Erismis (Turkey) hit back powerfully to snatch the Bronze medal. Ahead of their dramatic duel, Binnaz Uslu (Turkey) won in 18:47, nine seconds ahead of Fionnuala Britton (Ireland). Erismis clocked 19:09 and Hoban 19:10.
But Hoban was far from depressed by her return to GB duty for the first time since she helped the Junior Team win Gold at the 2003 European Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh.
“It’s just great to be back in a GB vest,” she said. “I didn’t expect anything. I was 15th as a Junior three years ago. Anything better than 15th would have meant I had a good day. The going was tough but I told myself, ‘You love the mud. Just get on with it.’ But Team Gold – wow! We wanted another one of them.”
Laura Kenney (Royal Sutton Coldfield), who produced a fantastic finish to take eighth place in 19:23, said: “My plan was to try and move through and I felt strong at the end. I made a bit of a steady start but I’m really pleased with my race.”
Claire Holme (Ipswich AC), 19th in 19:49, said: “It was very fast from the start but I worked my way through, which was pleasing. It was amazing, really. I set off fairly hard but after the bottleneck [shortly after the start] I ended up quite far back. I kept strong and people kept coming back to me all the time. We wanted a team medal. The Junior Women set the standard for us, didn’t they?”
Faye Fullerton (Havering Mayesbrook), a Junior medallist with Kenney and Hoban in Edinburgh in 2003 but in this time only after a late injury scare, said after finishing 25th in 19:55: “It was OK. The pace was a bit quick. And it was just a bit too far for me. So I found it very testing. I know my leg is going to be sore but Mark Buckingham [one of the UKA physiotherapists with the team] will work on it; I’ll be OK. But this is my third Euro medal – a great springboard for after Christmas.”
Hannah Whitmore (Charnwood AC), 28th in 20:04, said: “It was really, really hard work. I was absolutely shattered on the second lap [of three]. I was working really hard. But it’s been so good – I definitely want more of it!”
Emily Adams (Aldershot, Farnham and District), one place and one second behind fellow debutante Whitmore in a field of 64 finishers, said: “For my first international, it was a really good experience. It was quite tough but I enjoyed it.”
Junior Women (4.1km)
As expected, Norwich Union GB won this team title for the fifth time since 2000 – led by a wonderfully aggressive victory by Steph Twell (Aldershot, Farnham and District), who was seventh in this race 12 months ago.
Showing no fear of the athletes who finished ahead of her in Tilburg, she was content to sit off the early pace made by defending Champion Ancuta Bobocel (Romania) and choose her own time to attack. Then she struck with devastating effect in the final 600m, moving inexorably away from her most tenacious rival, Karoline Grovdal (Norway) to finish 10m clear. Twell’s time was 12:33, Grovdal’s 12:36 with Bobocel a further 15 seconds down in third place.
Norwich Union GB scored 21 points for the most comprehensive triumph of the day. Russia scored 76 to win the Silver medals and Romania 83 for Bronze.
Team Leader Alan Storey said: “Steph ran a sensible race. She let them go early on, made up the gap when she needed to and was in the right place to make her effort when she decided to.”
Twell said: “Everyone in the race went off like bats out of hell. I didn’t want to get too mixed up in that. I was just watching everyone. The stage came when I thought they were maybe too far away so I started moving through. Once I got moving, the adrenalin kept me going all the way through to the finish. I was so determined, I couldn’t think of anything else.”
Her coach, Mick Woods, UKA Endurance Performance Centre Coach at St Mary’s University Twickenham, said: “This was the pre-season target though Steph would not divulge it to anyone. We talked about this at the Junior Camp at St Mary’s in the summer and her ambition was quite clear to me. She ran a totally dominating race.
“She could not have run a more perfect race. She didn’t get sucked in at the beginning. She moved up to them sensibly and, once there, dominated the race.”
Emily Pidgeon (Gloucester AC), last year’s Silver medallist, was fourth this time in 12:59, eight seconds away from another individual medal in a career that has already earned her the European Junior 5000m title.
Pidgeon, another 17-year-old, knew that, as the result of a summertime heel injury, she had not trained sufficiently to emulated last winter’s performance and said: “I’m really pleased. It was just too short and fast for me and Sian. All credit goes to Steph because she was so good. She was equally good in the trial as well. If you had said to me 11 weeks ago [when she resumed training] that I would finish fourth in Europe, I would have said, ‘No way!’”
Sian Edwards (Kettering Town Harriers), sixth in 13:12 at the end of a wonderful year in which she finished 10th in the Junior Women’s race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, said: “Last year I would have been thrilled to have been sixth. This year I’m not. I just didn’t feel like me when I was running today. I don’t know why.”
Abby Westley (Loughborough Students), who closed in the scoring quartet by finishing 10th in 13:19 on her GB debut, said: “I’m really surprised. Training has gone well this winter but I have had a difficult past couple of weeks since the trial at Liverpool. I wanted to get on the start line and give it as good a go as possible. It was my last race as a Junior and I really enjoyed it. Top 10! I can’t believe that I finished so high.”
Jessica Coulson (Stockport Harriers), at 16 the baby of the team and 14th in 13:30 on her GB debut, said: “I loved it! I thought it was great. The start was so fast that I was laughing to myself with delight. The whole race went so quick that I’d like to do it again.”
Olivia Kenney (Royal Sutton Coldfield), 18th of the 90 finishers in 13:35 on her GB debut, said: “It’s been good. I was hoping for the top 20 and got 18th. It was different to all the other races I’ve been in. This one was so much faster and a bit shorter but a great experience.”
