Alex Bell to captain the British team at the European Cross Country Championship
Alex Bell has been chosen as the captain of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for this weekend’s European Cross Country Championships in Fingal-Dublin.
The Pudsey and Bramley athlete has enjoyed a remarkable season as she finished seventh in the Olympic Games 800m final, lowering her personal best to 1:57.66 to move to sixth on the UK all-time standings.
This weekend, she will race as part of the senior mixed relay team as she looks to match her gold-medal winning display at the Championships in Lisbon two years ago.
Alex Bell (handicap -1.9) joins Luke Duffy (handicap -4.5), Hannah Nuttall (handicap -0.5) and BenWest (handicap -5.1) in the 4x1500m quartet for the Championships in Dublin.
On the receiving the captaincy, Bell said,
“It is a huge honour to be selected as team captain. It is as special to me as the first time I received my British vest. I am so happy that I have been nominated to take on this role at this championship, and I’m really looking forward to being a part of this team in Fingal-Dublin.”
On the mixed relay, she added, “It is a really exciting race to be a part of. Year on year we are seeing more and more teams getting involved and they are getting stronger. We are getting stronger too, you can see that by the number of people competing in the trial in Liverpool.
“The race will be one of the highlights of the weekend, anything can happen in the race and every leg counts.”
Team Leader,Chris Jones, added,
“Alex has enjoyed a stellar season on the track, and we are delighted to have her as an important part of the British team in Fingal-Dublin. She has shown in the past that she is a strong racer on the cross country terrain, and she’ll be looking to lead the British team to the medal places like she did in Portugal in 2019.
“It is a great honour to captain a British team, and I know she will do a fantastic job in bringing together this squad during the Championships.”
The European Cross Country Championships will be broadcast on:
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.