Race Report: Junior Women – Cross Internacional de Italica, Seville, 12 November 2023

England returned to this fixture after an absence of some years. We had the individual winner in Holly Weedall and third in Pippa Roesslar

The course was dry and hard with softer parts in the newly introduced wooded area.

The race was over three laps of a course that had inclines which with the laps were tiring. When the race started Holly immediately established a good lead dictating the pace followed by Pippa approximately 20-30 metres behind, Lucy was next and a little detached was Bethan. By the end of the second lap Pippa had joined Holly and Maria Viciosa Villa was chasing behind. Lucy was established as a clear 4th and Bethan 7th.
Going into the final lap Holly pushed on into pole position but it was quite close as Maria passed Pippa and was putting a lot of effort in to try to close the gap on Holly. Pippa held on for a good 3rd place. Lucy was a little tired towards the end of the race and was unable to hold off Beatrice Periera from Portugal who finished 4th, Lucy finishing 5th and Bethan finishing 10th

Results

1 Holly Weedal 15.11
2 Maria Viciosa Villa 15.20 ( ESP)
3 Pippa Roesslar 15.25
4 Beatrice Periera 16.07 (POR)
5 Lucy Armitage 16.10
10 Bethan Homer 16.45

All athletes enjoyed this trip and are now eagerly looking forward to the forthcoming European Cross Country Trials in Liverpool in two weeks.