(Team update – 3.12.21)

A full team has been selected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at next month’s (12 December) European Cross Country Championships in Fingal-Dublin, Ireland.

Trials winners Jess Judd (coach: Mick Judd, coach: Blackburn) and Jack Rowe (Tim Eglen, Aldershot Farnham and District) lead the senior women’s and men’s teams respectively, while the senior mixed relay team includes Olympic 800m finalist Alex Bell (Andrew Henderson, Pudsey and Bramley) who won the women’s short course race at Sefton Park on Saturday.

In the senior women’s team, Judd will line up with Abbie Donnelly (Rob Lewis, Lincoln Wellington), Jess Gibbon (Reading) and Jenny Nesbitt (Chris Jones, Cardiff) who all finished in the automatic places at the trial, and they are joined by former European cross country medallist Kate Avery (Shildon), and Charlotte Arter (Chris Jones, Cardiff) – the latter’s selection subject to a fitness test.

Rowe will race alongside double Olympian Andrew Butchart (Central), Jamie Crowe (Derek Easton, Central) and William Battershill (Luke Gunn, Erme Valley) – the top four seniors in Liverpool – while Stuart McCallum (Bud Baldaro, Winchester) will earn his first GB & NI vest in Ireland next month, and Jake Smith (James Thie, Cardiff) completes the team of six.

The U23 women’s and men’s teams are led by Amelia Quirk (Mick Woods, Bracknell) and Tom Mortimer (Chris McGeorge, Stroud & District) who were the first athletes across the line in the age group in the trial. Sam Charlton (Helen Clitheroe, Wallsend), who set a British U20 10km road record at the Leeds Abbey Dash a few weeks ago, is called-up to a British team for the first time.

Megan Keith (Ross Cairns, Inverness) and Henry McLuckie (Geoff Watkin, Shaftesbury Barnet), who both competed at this summer’s European U20 Championships on the track, headline the women’s and men’s teams in the U20 category respectively.

Team Leader, Chris Jones, said: “Following very competitive trial races in Liverpool, we are delighted to select these strong teams for Fingal-Dublin next month. We have several athletes who have competed in senior and junior teams at international level before, combined with nine debutants, so I am sure they will all support one another to deliver good team and individual performances at the European Cross Country Championships.”

The European Cross Country Championships will be broadcast on the BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer between 10:00-15:00 on Sunday 12 December. A highlights programme will be available between 18:00-19:00 on the BBC Red Button. 

The British team for the European Cross Country Championships in Fingal-Dublin, Ireland on Sunday 12 December:

Senior women

Charlotte Arter (Chris Jones, Cardiff) *subject to fitness

Kate Avery (Shildon)

Abbie Donnelly (Rob Lewis, Lincoln Wellington)

Jess Gibbon (Reading)

Jess Judd (Mick Judd, Blackburn Harriers)

Jenny Nesbitt (Chris Jones, Cardiff)

Senior men

William Battershill (Luke Gunn, Erme Valley)

Andrew Butchart (Central)

Jamie Crowe (Derek Easton, Central)

Stuart McCallum (Bud Baldaro, Winchester)

Jack Rowe (Tim Eglen, Aldershot Farnham and District)

Jake Smith (James Thie, Cardiff)

Senior Mixed Relay

Alex Bell (Andrew Henderson, Pudsey and Bramley)

Luke Duffy (Richard Massey, Mansfield)

Hannah Nuttall (John Nuttall, Charnwood)

Benjamin West (Kyle Bennett, Milton Keynes Distance Project)

U23 Women

Eleanor Bolton (Ribble Valley)

Jemima Elgood (Andrew Henderson, Ilkley)

Izzy Fry (Steve Vernon, Newbury)

Cari Hughes (Andrew Walling, Cardiff)

Amelia Quirk (Mick Woods, Bracknell)

Eloise Walker (Andy Young, Edinburgh)

U23 Men

Sam Charlton (Helen Clitheroe, Wallsend)

Charles Hicks (Ricardo Santos, Shaftesbury Barnet)

Rory Leonard (Morpeth)

Zakariya Mahamed (Idris Hamud, Southampton)

Tom Mortimer (Chris McGeorge, Stroud & District)

Matthew Stonier (Peter Mullervy, Invicta East Kent)

U20 Women

Phoebe Anderson (Wayne Vinton, Herne Hill)

Alice Garner (Mick Woods, Aldershot, Farnham and District)

Ella Greenway (Joanna Louise Evans, Cleethorpes)

Megan Keith (Ross Cairns, Inverness)

Ellen Weir (Anne Hegvold, Hercules Wimbledon)

Beatrice Wood (Dave Amey, City of Salisbury AC)

U20 Men

Hamish Armitt (Crawford Whyte, Giffnock North)

Will Barnicoat (Aldershot Farnham and District)

Lewis Hannigan (Robert Hawkins, Kilbarchan)

Henry McLuckie (Geoff Watkin, Shaftesbury Barnet)

Osian Perrin (Andrew Walling, Menai)

Liam Rawlings (Colin Lancaster, Shrewsbury)