Five selected for GB cross country Euros

FIVE Loughborough Uni athletes have been selected to compete for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the European Cross Country Championships in Dublin this weekend (December 12).

All five athletes secured their spaces at the Liverpool British Cross Country Series event which also doubled as the European Trial.

Starting the day’s competition was the short course trial which saw Loughborough athlete Ben West finish three seconds ahead of fellow student Luke Duffy who fought to the end to take the all-important second automatic selection spot.

In the women’s event, recent Loughborough MSc graduate Hannah Nuttall also finished in automatic selection position as she took second place. The trio will now travel to Dublin to compete in the mixed short course relay.

The women’s long course race was won in emphatic style by PhD student and Tokyo Olympian, Jess Judd. She will be joined by fellow PhD student Abbie Donnelly who finished in third place at Liverpool, and the duo will hope to replicate their 2020 XC BUCS winning ways when they team up with four other athletes to compete in the senior women’s race.

The men’s and women’s long course races also incorporated the U23 trials, and with Matt Stonier finishing in 12th place overall and third U23, his selection was guaranteed.

Recent graduate Tom Mortimer and former student Rory Leonard will join Matt in the team after finishing 1st and 2nd U23 respectively. Fellow recent graduate Cari Hughes will be another familiar face to the Loughborough team members as her 5th place finish in Liverpool has secured her selection into the U23 women’s team.