CHAMP LAURA AMONG THE STARS AT XCOUNTRY

Athletics fans will have the chance to see European 1500m champion and double world indoor medallist Laura Muir when she lines up at the Simplyhealth Great Stirling XCountry on Saturday, January 12.

Muir (right), who also took the 1500m Diamond League title in Brussels in August, makes her fifth straight appearance in the 4x1km relay team, and has yet to be beaten in the event.

She will anchor the British mixed relay team once again, joining Phil Sesemann (Leeds City), Alex Bell (Pudsey and Bramley) and Jamie Williamson (Springburn Harreirs).

The event, which was previously staged in Edinburgh, will be held in Stirling for the first time next month and features some of the world’s best athletes battling it out across challenging terrain with world-class runners from Great Britain and Northern Ireland taking on Team Europe and Team USA over a variety of distances.

The event is completely free to spectate and will be shown live on BBC Sport from 1.15-3.15pm.

In the British men’s team, former Stirling 10K winner Kristian Jones (Swansea), will line up alongside Andy Vernon (Aldershot, Farnham and District), Charlie Hulson (Liverpool), Ross Millington (Stockport) and Nick Goolab (Belgrave Harriers), who won team silver at the recent European Cross Country Championships in Tilburg, Holland.

Kate Avery (Shildon), who won the Great Edinburgh XCountry in 2016, joins top Brit from Tilburg, Charlotte Arter (Cardiff ) with fellow team silver medallists Pippa Woolven (Wycombe), Jess Piasecki (Stockport) and Verity Ockenden (Swansea).

In total, 13 medallists from the Euros are selected including Under-23 team silver medallist Patrick Dever (Preston), who earns himself a first senior British vest.

European junior women’s team gold medallist Grace Brock (Cornwall), who finished 11th on her British debut in Tilburg, joins junior men’s team silver medallists Matt Willis (Wrexham) and Jack Meijer (Marshall Milton Keynes) in the junior mixed relay with Charlotte Alexander (Herne Hill).

Team leader Chris Jones, added: “Following yet another strong performance at the European Cross Country Championships, we are delighted to be able to name such a strong team for the Great Stirling Cross Country next month.”