It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the British men’s and women’s mountain runners at the World Championships (uphill) in Sapareva Banya, Bulgaria.

Hatti Archer (coach: Bud Baldaro) led by example in the senior women’s race as all four runners finished within the top 50. She recorded an impressive tenth place finish, crossing the line in 43:01, being pushed hard by team mate Victoria Wilkinson, who eventually finished three seconds behind in eleventh.

Emily Collinge, European champion (up and down) this year followed closely behind in 16th place, less than half a minute off the top placed British pair, whilst Annie Conway placed 45th in a time of 48:27.

The overall result meant the senior women narrowly missed out on a team medal as they were pipped to the bronze by the USA team. Taking the top three times of each country, the Brits were edged out by a single point into fourth place.

Andrew Douglas (Sophie Dunnett) registered the top result for the British men, just finishing outside the top ten with an eleventh placed finish. He crossed the line in a very impressive time of 1:05:55.72, just over a minute off medal pace. Chris Smith (Phillip O’Dell) also comfortably made it inside the top twenty, finishing 13th in a time of 1:06:21.10.

Graham Gristwood and Christopher Farrell finished 31st and 34th respectively to help boost the team medal hopes, but the Brits would finish an agonising 5th place overall as the USA claimed the gold medal.

In the women’s junior competition there was delight for debutant Bronwen Jenkinson as she claimed an individual bronze medal. Producing a fantastic race, she recorded a time of 23:56 to comfortably claim third by nearly half a minute.

Despite her individual heroics, it wasn’t enough to help her team mates secure a team medal as they collectively finished in fourth place.

The junior men all produced steady performances as all three of Euan Gillham (Robert Hawkins), Nathan Smith (Ian Wilcock) and Ciaran Lewis (James Thie) finished well within the top fifty. Gillham produced the best British performance, just missing out on a top ten place, finishing 13th in a posting of 38:25.