14 January 2009

UK Athletics have announced the Aviva Great Britain & Northern Ireland team for the Junior International Cross Country Championships in Lisbon, Portugal on 1 February 2009.

The event, which is attended annually by GB&NI, offers further international experience to athletes aiming to make the team for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships which will be held in Jordan on 28 March.

The team is as follows:

Tom Farrell (Border Harriers & AC) set personal bests over four distances in 2008 and finished seventh this season’s McCain Cross Challenge events in Liverpool & Gateshead. 

Nick Goolab (Belgrave Harriers) is currently ranked sixth for U20 3k following a personal best performance at the BMC Nike Grand Prix in 2008. He finished twelfth at the recent 4k Great Edinburgh Cross Country, second at the McCain UK Cross Challenge in Liverpool and made the GB team for the European Cross Country.

Chris O’Hare (Edinburgh AC) reached the 1500m final at the Commonwealth Youth Games in India in 2008, had an international outing at the European Junior Cross Country Championships in Brussels in December and also set personal bests over the 3k and 5k.

James Wilkinson (Leeds City AC) set personal bests over 800, 3k, 5k and 10k in 2008, finishing  the year ranked first for the U20 5k.

Sophie Coleman (Phoenix AC) will don her first international vest for this event after just three competitive outings in 2008, including eighth place at the McCain UK Cross Challenge in Liverpool.

Although Nicola Hood’s (Victoria Park City of Glasgow) best performances came from steeplechase outings in 2008, she will stretch her legs at cross country for GB&NI following a respectable seventh place at the McCain UK Cross Challenge in Liverpool in December.

Lilly Partridge (AFD) ran a personal best at last year’s Aviva London Grand Prix in the junior 3k event. She was part of the Aviva GB&NI team at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh in 2008 and finished the Liverpool McCain UK Cross Challenge in sixth place ahead of team mates Hood and Coleman.

Louise Small (AFD) won the 4k IAAF International Cross Country and McCain UK Cross Challenge in Antrim at the beginning of the year and finished nineteenth in the Great Edinburgh Cross Country more recently.  She set personal bests across four distances in 2008. 

GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND TEAM

JUNIOR MEN

Tom Farrell (Border Harriers & AC); Nick Goolab (Belgrave Harriers); Chris O’Hare (Edinburgh AC); James Wilkinson (Leeds City AC)

JUNIOR WOMEN

Sophie Coleman (Phoenix AC); Nicola Hood (Victoria Park City of Glasgow); Lilly Partridge (AFD); Louise Small (AFD)