The ECCA athletes running for England produced some excellent runs in the top class Italica International Cross Country in Seville.

The first race in which England athletes were in action was the young U20 women’s team and they ran superbly with Georgia Hays winning in 18.06 ahead of 2 Spanish athletes , then came Holly Smith 4th in 18.41, Imogen Wood 5th, 10 sec back and Courtney Howard 6th a further 16sec behind, all gaining great experience.
The three England U20 Men all ran very competitively with Josh Cowperthwaite getting an excellent 2nd in 23.41, 10 sec down on the winner Etson Barros of Portugal who was 4th in the European U20 Championships recently. Then came Will Barnicoat 3rd (not in provisional results as classed by organisers as an U18 saying that he shouldn’t have run in the U20 race having accepted his entry, however he was presented with his prize) while Henry McLuckie was 4th in 24.01 all racing very well.

The Senior Women tested themselves in a very classy field. The race was won by Margaret Chelimo of Kenya in 28.37 with Beatrice Chebet 2nd and a host of African athletes behind. England’s Kate Avery ran very strongly for 10th place in 31.04, then came Dani Chattenton 9 sec back in 14th, while Jessica Gibbon was 19th and Hannah Irwin 25th.

Some promising performances for the future.