ENGLAND CROSS COUNTRY TEAM REPORT
79 Juan Muguerza Krosa, Elgoibar, 8 January 2023

Amelia Quirk, Niamh Bridson-Hubbard, Poppy Tank, Rebecca Murray

The course was set in the quiet picturesque village of Elgoibar and this longstanding world class race did not disappoint. As previous years it was a stellar field from around Europe and Africa and the course was varied in underfoot conditions with undulating sections. The senior ladies ran 1 small lap 3 large laps of this course over a distance of 7.621M.

The race started at a pedestrian pace around the track and all the team positioned themselves in good positions, Poppy and Amelia towards the front of the field and Niamh and Rebecca tucking in the middle section. Going into the small lap the pace picked up and started to stretch out. Niamh and Rebecca had spotted the break and moved up the field towards the front with Poppy and Amelia. Steph Twell pushing the pace leading the field into the first of the large of 3 laps taking the elite athletes with her. Poppy just sitting off the first group in 8th place with Amelia and Niamh following close behind in 9th and 10th. The pace didn’t let up and the positions did not change significantly until the final lap.

Poppy ran strongly and picked up 2 places to finish in an impressive 6th place. Amelia held her position and finished in 10th and the usual fast finishes of the Spanish just pushed Niamh into 13th position. Rebecca paced her race well and moved through the field to finish in 18th.

The team enjoyed the race and atmosphere and were pleased with their performances.

Start Finish

SUE LAMB
Senior Women’s Team Manager