Cross Country Team Announcement – Elgoibar, Spain – 5th Jan 2025

The town of Elgoibar, in the Basque region of Northern Spain has held its now famous annual international cross country event ‘Juan Muguerza’ named after local runner Juan Maguerza, a multiple national champion who was killed in 1937 during the Spanish civil war.
The competition was first held in 1943 between national level runners but changed in 1963 to an international event. The first foreign winner was Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia who went on to win 3 more times.
This has been a very strong event for many years with a deep contingent of African and top European runners contesting the men’s and women’s events annually many having had success (including winning) either the European cross country or world cross country championships.

We have taken men’s and women’s senior and junior teams for many years now to Elgoibar and have always been warmly welcomed. The competition is really good and we have had many junior winners of recent years but in the senior events it has been very difficult but our men and women have benefited enormously from this level of competition – for many the toughest race they have competed in outside of the European or World Cross Country Championships.

Team Managers

Senior Men – Eamonn Martin
Senior Women – Sue Lamb
Junior Men – Keith Holt
Junior Women – Jo Newcombe

Senior Men

Alfie Manthorpe – Hallamshire Harriers – Self-Coached
“7th in the UK European Trial at Liverpool just missing out on GB selection for the Euro Cross has sealed Alfie’s selection.
He ran 3000 indoor on 7th December winning in 7m53.54 to equal his outdoor PB and suggest he is in good shape at the shorter end of the range. He also recently ran well on a very competitive leg 1 at the National cross country relays at Mansfield and fastest 4th leg at the Northern relays in October He has represented England at Cross Country last season and also ran in the European Cross in Brussels in 2023 finishing 44th.”

David Stone – Shaftesbury Barnet / Birmingham Uni – Dean Miller
“David had a brilliant run at the Euro Cross Trial in Liverpool beating Will Barnicoat by 16 seconds in the U23 race (Will the defending European U23 champion who went on to successfully defend it 2 weeks after the trial race).
David himself finishing 3rd in that European U23 4secs between him and the winner Barnicoat. Antalya being only his 2nd race of the year due to his recovery from injury. David has shown enormous promise but injury has kept him back, his 2 races in 2023 were 9th in the BUCS and 3rd in the English National. He was also 2nd in the English National junior race in 2022 behind Barnicoat.
Let’s hope a period of injury free running under the guidance of Dean Miller
will allow him to achieve his full potential.”

Tomer Tarragano – Brighton & Hove/ Birmingham Uni – Dean Miller
“Tomer had a brilliant run to win the senior Men’s Euro Trial in Liverpool beating Hugo Milner by 10 seconds in what is certainly his best ever performance over the country and securing his selection for the GB senior team at the Euro Cross in Antalya, Turkey where he finished a fantastic 19th securing team bronze for GB.
Having finished 2nd in the BUCS cross country last February qualifying for the World Universities in Oman where he was 15th. He has shown much improvement recently and like David Stone his training partner is being guided by Dean Miller at Birmingham Uni.”

Jacob Cann – Newham & Essex Beagles – Self-Coached
“Jacob finished 8th at the Euro Cross Trial at Liverpool just missing selection as reserve for GB team at the Euro cross. Previously picked to run for England at cross country 2 years ago injury prevented that happening.
He ran a solid leg on leg 4 of the National Cross country relays at Mansfield having finished 17th at the re-arranged English National at Weston Park in September he has rounded into good shape at the right time.
He has a 7m53 3000m performer this year so brings good pace from the lower end of the endurance spectrum.”

Senior Women

Holly Dixon – Cambridge H
“Holly finished 2nd in the Short Course Race at the European Trial in Liverpool but unfortunately was not selected to race as part of the GB team in the European Cross Country.
Holly was selected to run in Roeselare for England in October where she had a fantastic run to finish 5th, this all off a positive summer season and gaining PB’s in 1500/3000 & 5000 and her podium 2nd place in the National Cross Country in September.”]

Megan Gadsby – City of Norwich/St Mary’s Uni – Mick Woods
“Megan won the U23 European Cross Trial at Liverpool and gained selection for the European Cross in Turkey where she finished 23rd and was part of the Team to win a Gold medal. Megan also ran in the National Cross Country at Weston Park in September where she finished in 6th place, this after a busy summer season on the track where she gained PB’s over 800/1500/3000 & 5000.
Megan was also in the England team in Diest last season where she finished 13th”

Sophie Tarver – Wirral – Bill Foster
“Sophie ran a positive race at the European Trial in Liverpool finishing 11th and also had a very good race in Roeselare in October finishing in 9th place competing in the England Team.
Sophie also competed in Diest for England last season finishing 7th and followed her great form into the summer track and road season where she ran PB’s over 1500 and 5000M and 5K on the road.”

Kate Willis – City of Norwich/Birmingham Uni – Dean Millar
“Kate finished 2nd U23 at the European Trial in Liverpool and also gained GB selection with Megan for the European Cross Country where she finished 18th and was part of the team to win a Gold Team Medal. Kate had a positive summer season gaining PB’s in 3000 on the track and 5K on the road at the Podium 5K in Leicester.
Elgoibar will be an England debut for Kate and her experience racing in the European Cross Country Championships should stand her in good stead.”

U20 Men

William Rabjohns – Poole AC – Mark Pauley
“William has continued to build on last season’s good cross country form with a fighting 4th place for England in Energyvision Cross Cup Roeselare in October. This was followed four weeks later with an excellent 2nd place in the British Athletics Cross Challenge, in Sefton Park, Liverpool, which included the European Cross Country Trials. This second place secured automatic selection for the GB European Team in Antlya, Turkey in which he finished in 22nd place.
William seems to be getting it right and with much improved track times from the summer – 800m in a PB of 1:51.96, 1500m in a PB of 3:41.79 and 3000m in another PB of 8:29.4 the future looks promising.”

Miles Waterworth – Brighton Phoenix – Bruce Warren
Miles has good track and cross country credentials and has demonstrated his versatility with a 4th Place in the English Schools Cross Country Championships and a silver medal in the Youth Commonwealth Games over 800m in Trinidad &Tobago. Miles also won the silver medal at the ESAA and was ranked No 4 as first year U20 for 1500m. A good run in ECCA National Cross Country Relays in Mansfield set Miles up for an excellent 4th place finish in the British Athletics Cross Challenge, in Sefton Park, Liverpool. This secured the final automatic selection place for the GB European Team in Antlya, Turkey in which he finished in an excellent 18th Place.

Brandon Pye – Houghton Harriers AC – Rob Bridges
Brandon comes from a triathlon background however a crash on his bike left him injured for a long period this year. Brandon does have some track pedigree having made the Youth Commonwealth Games in Trinidad & Tobago last year over 3000m. This year’s track season consisted of a single 3000m race in Jarrow which he won in a big PB of 8:19.75 at the end of May. He was unable to race again until he ran the British Athletics Cross Challenge, in Sefton Park, Liverpool in which he finished 10th. With athletes ahead of him moving out of the age group in January, Brandon becomes the 4th ranked junior.

Jack Marwood – Salford Harriers & AC – Ian Grime
Jack is the youngest in the team at 16. A natural cross country runner he finished 5th in both the ECCA Saucony English National Cross Country Championships and CAU Inter County Championships last winter. Jack has started this season well finishing 6th in the Junior race (2nd under 17) in the British Athletics Cross Challenge in Cardiff. He followed this up with a 13th place finish (1st under 17) in the British Athletics Cross Challenge, in Sefton Park, Liverpool. This run places him at the top of a very strong group of under 17 cross country runners.

U20 Women

Zoe Gilbody – Telford AC – Sarah Benson
Zoe is having an excellent cross country season. Zoe represented GB&NI at the recent European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Turkey finishing a credible 11th despite have a fall during the race. Zoe has gained her selection for England finishing 4th overall at Liverpool. Earlier in the current cross country season Zoe finished 3rd in the Cardiff Cross Country Challenge and 4th in the EnergyVision Cross Cup in Roeselare, Belgium. Zoe was runner up in the U17 race at the National, Weston Park.

Isabel Holt – Blackburn – Edmund Finucane
Isabel has gained her first England Cross Country vest following her 13th overall position (10th U20) at Liverpool. Earlier in November, Isabel finished 4th in the Cardiff Cross Country Challenge. In the summer Isabel showed good form on the track significantly improving her 1500m, 3000m and 5000m times and on the road where she clocked 16mins 27secs at the Podium 5K in Barrowford.

Isla McGowan – Banbury – Ros Kelling
Isla is another athlete who is making her England cross country debut following her 11th overall position (2nd U17) at Liverpool. Earlier in the season, Isla finished 5th (1st U17) in the Cardiff Cross Country Challenge and 5th in the U17 race at the National, Weston Park. Arguably these achievements were eclipsed in the summer where Isla was the silver medallist at 1500m at the U18 European Championships in Slovakia.

Eleanor Strevens – Eastbourne – Christopher Voice
Eleanor has made significant progress as a cross country and track athlete this year. Eleanor represented GB&NI at the recent European Cross Country Championships in Antalya, Turkey finishing an excellent 6th and 3rd scorer for the U20 Women’s gold medal winning team. Eleanor has gained her selection for England finishing 7th overall (6th U20) at Liverpool. Earlier in the current cross country season Eleanor was the winner of the EnergyVision Cross Cup in Roeselare, Belgium and runner up in the National at Weston Park. In the summer Eleanor was the gold medallist at the English Schools over 800m and improved her 800 and 1500 pbs to 2.05.93 and 4.18.47 respectively.