Held over a course covered in snow and slush the England runners raced well at the Lotto Cross Cup event held at Hannut, Belgium. In the Senior Men’s race with the usual contingent of African runners  Jonathan Taylor of  Morpeth Harriers continued his build up to the Championships to come home with a 7th placing in a time 33.45, the race won by Ethiopian  Dame Tasama in 32.52, behind them Dean Lacy of Cambridge Harriers finished 10th in 34.17.

The Senior Women’s race saw Belgium, Louise Caston win in 22.04, over a course where they had to negotiate a number of small hurdles. England’s lead runner was Rebecca Murray of Bedford & County AC in 5th spot with 22.43, next came Rachel Felton of Shaftesbury Barnet AC 8th, 7 seconds down on Rebecca, while Stephanie Barnes was 12th with a time 23.12 and Ashley Gibson of Morpeth Harriers finished 16th in 23.56.

The Junior Women were the most successful team of the day with a 1,2, and 3. They were led home by Hannah Nuttall of Charnwood AC with a time of 17.45,  Abbie Donnelly, Lincoln Wellington AC placed 2nd in 18.07 while Kate Gerrard, Vale Royal AC was 3rd 11 seconds back.

The Junior Men had Joe Steward of East Cheshire Harriers 2nd in a race won by Dieter Kersten of Belgium in 21.11, while Max Nicholls of Tonbridge placed 3rd, 8 seconds back and Daniel Hayes of 5th, the Derby AC runner recording 21.51