Of Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland Team members in endurance running action on Sunday 17 December, 17-year-old Stephanie Twell scored a super senior victory in Spain, Mo Farah and Hayley Yelling became somewhat stuck in the mud of Belgium and Phil Nicholls sped 60 places up the Power of 10 rankings over 10km with a searing solo run at Telford.
Twell (Aldershot, Farnham and District AC), the newly crowned European Junior Cross Country Champion, won the Senior Women’s 6km at the 40th annual Catalunya International meeting in Granollers, Barcelona.
A week after emerging as Europe’s top teenager, the schoolgirl from Farnborough in Hampshire looked to have blown her chances when she lost a 50m lead to the hot favourite, Habtemariam Nebiat (Eritrea), who finished 16th in the 2003 World Cross Country Championships and has already enjoyed successes in previous races in Spain this winter.
But when Nebiat looked set to strike with 500m to go, it was young Twell who stunned the crowd by finding the stronger finish. She crossed the line in 20 minutes 37 seconds to win by four seconds. Third, a further 40 seconds adrift, was Miriam Ortiz Rivas, who represented Spain in the under-23s’ race at the Europeans.
Twell’s delighted coach, Mick Woods, Performance Coach at the UK Athletics Endurance Performance Centre at St Mary’s University Twickenham, said: “She has learnt a massive lesson. She got excited when she built a 50-metre lead with 2.5km still to go.
“She began to struggle but she has a really good racing head on her shoulders and she didn’t panic when Nebiat caught her and hit the front with probably 500m to go. She responded very well and her finish over the last 400m was just as powerful as last week’s at the Europeans.
“To win against a quality field like this has been a huge experience for Steph.”
To complete Woods’ joy, two more athletes from his training group at Aldershot, Farnham and District – Charlotte Purdue and Martin Mashford – won the junior races at the IAAF permit meeting, which incorporated the fourth meeting in this winter’s Iris Lotto CrossCup, in Brussels.
Purdue, third in the Junior Women’s race at the UK Cross Challenge in Liverpool but too young to run for Norwich Union GB at the Europeans, represented the South of England in Brussels and led a UK sweep of the Junior Women’s 4km, clocking 15:32. Behind her came:
2 Lucy Mayho (England / Bingley Harriers) 15:44
3 Emma Pallant (England / Aldershot, Farnham and District) 16:05
4 Ruth Senior (South of England / City of Norwich) 16:15
5 Charlotte Mahieu (Belgium) 16:18
6 Linzi Snow (England / Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) 16:25
7 Sarah Waldron (England / Gloucester AC) 16:27
10 Laura Condron (South of England / Chelmsford AC) 16:44
12 Sarah Bailey (South of England / Loughborough Students) 16:51
14 Julia Cooke (Wales / Cheltenham and County Harriers) 17:26
16 Gemma Leahy (Wales / Pembrokeshire Harriers) 17:28
17 Bethan Strange (Wales / Cardiff AAC) 17:29
24 Elinor Kirk (Wales / Swansea Harriers) 18:39
26 Alaw Thomas (Carmarthen Harriers) 18:59
The Junior Men’s 6km was won emphatically by Mashford, putting behind him the disappointment of his 11th place in the European Trial at Liverpool. Mashford clocked 21:01 to finish 11 seconds clear of runner-up Andy Livingstone (South of England / Thurrock Harriers) with Belgium’s Ruben Vandevelde third in 21:29. Then came:
4 Adrian Holliday (England / Trafford AC) 21:37
5 David Bishop (South of England / UWIC) 21:41
6 Tim Dalton (England / Severn AC) 21:43
8 Ieuan Thomas (Wales / Cwmbran Harriers) 21:58
9 Ross Millington (England / Stockport Harriers) 22:02
12 Afan Humphries (Wales / Cwmbran Harriers) 22:10
13 Johnny van Deventer (South of England) 22:12
21 James Mills (Wales / Wrexham AC) 21:46
26 Sam Perkins (South of England / Ranelagh Harriers) 23:04
30 Tom Marshall (Wales) 23:35
33 Danny Brewer (Blackheath and Bromley Harriers) 23:49
36 Gavin Hanrahan (Cwmbran Harriers) 24:22.
Norwich Union GB’s most heroic seniors from last weekend’s European Championships ran out of steam, perhaps understandably, in the heavy going of the Park Van Laken, upon which no fewer than 23 races had been run before they set off.
A week after winning the European Senior Men’s title emphatically, 23-year-old Mo Farah (Newham and Essex Beagles) finished an exhausted 19th in the Brussels 10.5km race that has a reputation for staging some of the highest class races outside the World Cross Country Championships.
Bernard Chepkok (Kenya) headed an African 1-2-3, crossing the line in 33:24, with six-times European Champion Sergiy Lebid (Ukraine) fourth in 34:13.
The leading UK finisher was Steve Vernon (England / Stockport Harriers), who was seventh in 34:38 a week after being forced to drop out of the European race with stomach cramps when well placed two-thirds of the way round the San Giorgio su Legnano course.
“I ran well and am pleased,” he said after finishing only seven seconds behind the European Silver medallist Fernando Silva (Portugal). “I went out there really hungry after last week. My stomach has been worrying me all week and I was in a bit of pain through the race. But I was able to put it to the back of my mind, unlike last week when it got so bad that I couldn’t go on.
“This sort of makes up for the disappointment of last weekend … not completely, but at least I think it justifies my selection for the Europeans.”
And Vernon was quick to put Farah’s efforts into perspective: “It’s a bit of a shame for Mo but he has had a lot of pressure this week. He’ll be fine when everything’s calmed down.”
Farah crossed the Brussels line three places adrift of Mike Skinner (Blackheath and Bromley), who finished 58 seconds behind him in the European race. Skinner finished 16th in 35:24 with the young champion 19th in 35:21, eight places lower than on his last appearance in this race three years ago.
Farah said: “There was mud everywhere. I was up there for a while but my legs felt very tired from last week and I just got sucked down. I’m disappointed but that’s how it goes. I need to get stronger.”
The UK athletes behind him were:
20 Phil Hinch (England / Tipton Harriers) 35:34
31 Tom Payn (Birchfield Harriers) 36:13
34 Michael Coleman (South of England/Medway and Maidstone AC) 36:20
40 Neil Burton (England / Tipton Harriers) 37:01
47 Richard Williams (South of England / Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers) 37:47
49 Ryan McLeod (England / Elswick Harriers) 38:28.
Hayley Yelling (Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC), the diminutive battler who led Norwich Union GB to the European Team Silver medals again last weekend and usually relishes tough conditions, became so bogged down in the women’s 6km race that she slipped from third to seventh in the last 20 metres.
The diminutive Buckinghamshire maths teacher said: “I was running well but the home straight was so muddy I was a bit of a girl.” The race was won in 21:27 by the favourite, Teyiba Erkesso (Ethiopia), Bronze medallist in the Senior Women’s short course race at the 2003 World Cross Country Championships.
Then came something of a pile-up:
2 Aniko Kalovics (Hungary) 21:35
3 Analia Rosa (Portugal) 21:38
4 Dejaeghere Veerle (Belgium) 21:39
5 Fionnuala Britton (Ireland) 21:39
6 Getaneh Genet (Ethiopia) 21:41
7 Hayley Yelling 21:41.
Other UK finishers: 14 Gemma Phillips (England / Kendal AC) 22:26; 15 Eleanor Baker (England / South London Harriers) 22:46; … 20 Claire Martin (England / Telford AC) 23:17; … 22 Susie Bush (South of England / Aldershot, Farnham and District) 23:25; … 25 Victoria Webster (South of England / Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers) 23:49; … 28 Jenny Blizard (England / Rotherham Harriers) 24:03; 29 Frances Briscoe (South of England / White Horse Harriers) 24:06; … 35 Alexa Joel (South of England / Basildon AC) 24:39; … 37 Nicola Bamford (Midland Counties / Notts AC) 24:51; … 39 Shavaun Henry (Blackheath and Bromley) 25:38.
Meanwhile back home, Phil Nicholls (Tipton Harriers) brought to life a prophesy he made immediately after he helped the Norwich Union GB Men’s Team finish seventh at last month’s Chiba Ekiden Road Relay.
He said at the time: “I felt strong again and believe I’m improving with every race. I’m going for a fast 10km in my next race.”
Proving he is as good as his word, the 23-year-old won the Telford 10km in 29:18, a massive 1 minute 28 seconds quicker than his previous fastest of this year, at Chichester in February.
It raised him from 69th to 9th in the Power of 10 rankings for 10km road, which are led by that man Farah with 28:37.
And it was even more remarkable for the fact that he ran 75% of the race on his own. He reports: “I went through halfway in 14:23 and was on for a time under 29 minutes for a while after that but I was on my own and then got into a head wind. I’m going to target the World Cross in a big way now!”
He believes his next run will be in the third stage of the UK Cross Challenge series, the Belfast International on 6 January, and then he will prepare for the World Trial that, for Seniors, is incorporated in the BUSA Cross Country Championships being run at the University of Bath on Saturday 3 February.
