British Athletics’ women’s team claimed bronze at the IAU World Ultra Trail Championships in Geres, Portugal, on Saturday.

The race, held over 85km (53 miles) in Panada de Geres National park in Northern Portugal, saw 7th place finisher Jo Meek lead the British team home in a time of 10:36.12, with compatriot Beth Pascall one place behind with a posting of 10:41.35.

Post-race a delighted Meek commented: “That was one tough race, and I felt I left nothing out there. I was very pleased to place so well in such a high quality field”

Pascall, winning her first GB vest, said: “I found that very hard, much harder than I expected, but I guess I should be very pleased to place in the top ten in a championship race”

Jo Zakrzewski was Britain’s third counter in 29th position with a time of 11.46.51. The GP from Dumfries has won individual or team medals at 50k, 100k and trail running in a British vest, and reflected on her performance post-race, saying: “I came into the race having had an interrupted build up. It was a challenging course, but I so wanted us to get on the podium”.

In spite of a heavy fall early on in the race, Sally Fawcett soldiered on bravely to complete the course, crossing the line in 12:27.20 for 44th, with teammate Sophie Grant eight places behind in 12:48.08, a solid run on her first international appearance.

The British men endured an afternoon of mixed fortunes as they battled to an 11th place team finish. Andy Symonds fared well in his first competitive outing of the year, running a superbly controlled race to place 9th in 9:00.40.

The 35-year-old spoke afterwards, saying: “Before the race I hoped to finish in the top ten. I am really pleased with that, especially in such a high quality field. The strength of the French and the Spanish runners is indeed impressive.”

With the temperature continuing to rise through the middle of the day Tom Payn and Damian Hall, both winning their first British vests, ran solidly to finish in 10:20.07 (43rd) and 10:59.39 (68th) respectively.

Tom Owens, who had hoped to figure well after his 4th place finish at the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships earlier this year, battled on courageously in the heat but dropped out at the final checkpoint, whilst Kim Collison and Donnie Campbell also retired mid-race having struggled on boldly with injuries sustained in the race.

Full results from the IAU World Trail Running Champs are available via: https://lap2go.com/en/event/trail-world-championships-2016/results/Trail-World-Championships