40-STRONG GB & NI TEAM BRUSSELS BOUND FOR THE 2023 EUROPEAN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Great Britain and Northern Ireland will once again send full teams to the European Cross Country Championships which take place in Brussels, Belgium on Sunday 10 December.

2022 European Cross medallists Megan Keith (coach: Ross Cairns, club: Inverness), Alexandra Millard (Bill Foster, Invicta East Kent) and Will Barnicoat (Aldershot Farnham and District) will pull on their GB & NI vests again as the trio compete in the U23 races.

Keith – who won the senior / U23 trial race in Liverpool – will be looking to upgrade upon her Euro U23 silver from Turin last December, while Millard, who won bronze in that same race, will go into the 2023 edition of the Championships in confident mood following an impressive showing at the trial.

Barnicoat, who won the Euro U20 title last December, steps up to the U23 team this time around, and he will be joined by Matt Stonier (Sonia and Chris McGeorge, Invicta East Kent) who came through strongly to claim second place in the senior / U23 race at Sefton Park.

The senior women’s squad includes world 10,000m eighth placer Jessica Warner-Judd (Mick Judd, Blackburn). Meanwhile, trials winner Hugo Milner (Derby) leads the senior men’s entries. He will be joined by last year’s U23 silver medallist Zakariya Mahamed (Idris Hamud, Southampton) and World Road Running Championships mile silver medallist Callum Elson (Cambridge & Coleridge).

Trials winners Joshua Lay (Anthony Love, Rugby and Northampton) and Bethan Morley (Bill Foster, Leeds City) lead the way in the senior mixed relay quartet, while Innes Fitzgerald (Gavin Pavey, Exeter) and Henry Dover (Shaftesbury Barnet) head the entries for the U20 women’s and men’s teams respectively after fine performances on Merseyside.

Team Leader, Chris Jones, said, “Cross country running in the UK continues to go from strength to strength and the performances in Liverpool further illustrated this. We saw some incredibly competitive trial races across the board, so we are pleased to have selected a strong GB & NI team which will be in a good position to take on the best in Europe next month.”

The Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium on Sunday 10 December:

Senior Women

Niamh Bridson Hubbard (Philip O’Dell, Blackheath & Bromley)

Abbie Donnelly (Rob Lewis, Lincoln Wellington)

Izzy Fry (Chris and Sonia McGeorge, Newbury)

Amelia Quirk (Mick Woods, Bracknell)

Poppy Tank (Luke Gunn, City of Plymouth)

Jessica Warner-Judd (Mick Judd, Blackburn)

Senior Men

Callum Elson (Cambridge & Coleridge)

Calum Johnson (Gateshead)

Zakariya Mahamed (Idris Hamud, Southampton)

Alfie Manthorpe (John Wood, Sheffield & Dearne)

Angus McMillan (Don McMillan, City of York)

Hugo Milner (Derby)

Senior Mixed Relay

Adam Fogg (Coventry)

Joshua Lay (Anthony Love, Rugby and Northampton)

Khahisa Mhlanga (Andrew Hobdell, Herts Phoenix)

Bethan Morley (Bill Foster, Leeds City)

U23 Women

Megan Keith (Ross Cairns, Inverness)

Olivia Mason (Graeme Mason, Border)

Lynn McKenna (John Montgomery, Shettleston)

Alexandra Millard (Bill Foster, Invicta East Kent)

Eloise Walker (Trevor Painter, Edinburgh)

Tia Wilson (Bill Foster, Bedford & County)

U23 Men

Will Barnicoat (Aldershot Farnham and District)

Matt Stonier (Sonia and Chris McGeorge, Invicta East Kent)

James Kingston (Mark Hookway, Tonbridge)

Rory Leonard (Morpeth)

Henry McLuckie (Geoff Watkin, Isle of Wight)

Tomer Tarragano (Dean Miller, Brighton & Hove)

U20 Women

Jess Bailey (Matthew Long, Leven Valley)

Innes Fitzgerald (Gavin Pavey, Exeter)

Zoe Hunter (Jethro McGraw, Leeds City)

Moli Lyons (Chris Jones, Cardiff)

Katie Pye (Mick Woods, Aldershot Farnham and District)

Lizzie Wellsted (Colchester)

U20 Men

Henry Dover (Shaftesbury Barnet)

Sam Hodgson (Shireen Higgins, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow)

Andrew McGill (Michael Johnston, Livingston)

Rowan Miell-Ingram (Wendy Miell-Ingram, Radley)

Sam Mills (Exeter)

Louis Small (Stella Bandu, Ashford)

Brussels Team Staff

Team Leader: Chris Jones

Team Coaches: Liz Yelling [Senior women], Eamonn Martin [Senior men], Hayley Yelling [U23 women], Mick Woods [U23 men], Hayley Hemmings [U20 women] and Kyle Bennett [U20 men]

Team Support Staff (Medical): Stuart Butler, Fiona Henry and Emma Lunan

Team Operations and Logistics: Cerys Miller