Four medals for the British team in the European Uphill Mountain Running Championships
It was an encouraging start for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team at the inaugural European Off-Road Running Championships in Spain as they won three team medals and one individual bronze medal in the senior and junior uphill only races.
The senior women’s team claimed a fantastic gold medal to add to GB & NI’s medal haul on the opening day of the Championships.
Scout Adkin (handicap -0.1) was the first of the team to finish as she was fourth overall, just 22 seconds off the podium positions. On her senior debut for the British team, it was an excellent performance as Switzerland’s Maude Mathys took the individual gold medal.
Making her first mountain running outing in a GB & NI vest, Kate Avery (handicap -0.4) was the second Briton home in tenth position with Kirsty Dickson (handicap 8.1) closely behind in 12th. Holly Page (handicap -0.1) was 29th overall.
Earlier in the day, Charlotte Rawstron (handicap 4.9) earned a superb individual bronze medal in the U20 women’s uphill race as she helped guide the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team to silver overall.
Rawstron fought well on the tough uphill course and comfortably earned a podium position on her GB & NI debut, behind Ida Waldal (NOR) and Axelle Vicari (ITA). The next Briton was Eve Whitaker (handicap 3.1) in sixth position, a further two and half minutes back on her compatriot.
Isla Hedley (handicap 4.1) was eighth and Louisa Brown (handicap 1.8) was 11th as they finished behind the Italians who secured third, fourth and fifth position.
In the first race of the day, the U20 men finished in bronze medal position in the team standings with a superb fourth place finish for Finlay Grant (handicap -3.4) leading the way for the quartet.
Lukas Ehrle dominated the race as he sealed victory for Germany, while Spain commanded the other podium positions to see them take the team gold, however, the British team ran well to get into the team medal positions.
Edward Corden (-1.6) was the second Briton across the line in eighth place, while Charlie Allmond (handicap -1.6) was 13th with Ben O’Dowd (handicap 1.2) next in 15th.
The senior men placed fourth overall in the team standings with Joe Steward (Harry Kelly, Salford) the leading individual among the team as he crossed the line at the top of the course in seventh overall.
Chris Richards (handicap -4.8) was next in 17th while Daniel Haworth (handicap -5.6) was 23rd. Jacob Adkin (handicap -0.1) was 29th while the race was won by Italy’s Cesare Maestri.
The Championships return on Saturday for the Trail races.
Saturday 2 July
08:00: Trail race – Elite Senior men & women (47,4km)
Sunday 3 July
08:30: Up&down mountain race – Elite Senior men (18km) El Paso
08:45: Up&down mountain race – Elite U20 men (5,4km) El Paso
10:30: Up&down mountain race – Elite Senior women (18km) El Paso
10:45: Up&down mountain race – Elite U20 women (5,4km) El Paso
Information on how to follow is available here: https://www.european-athletics.com/news/how-to-follow-the-inaugural-european-athletics-off-road-running-championships