Faye Fullerton showed her potential with a fantastic third place in the World Cross Country Trial incorporating the Inter Countries Championships, earning a coveted automatic selection place for the World Cross Country Championships.
Always well placed, Faye covered the leaders' break when Steph Twell and Freya Murray too on the race and was in contention until the last two kilometres of the 8km course. A jubilant Faye said "I surprised myself! I just tried to cover the break and hold on to the leaders for as long as I could. I started to suffer in the final few kilometres but just managed to hold on". Faye's performance should earn her selection for the Great Britain team for the World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland in two weeks (28 March). It will be Faye's sixth World Championships - after three appearances as a junior and two others as a senior.
There were also good performances by Harriet Scott and Robyn Matson. Harriet featured in the leading group until around half way and finished a fine 28th while Robyn was a respectable 113th.
Lydia Hallam helped the Essex U13 Girls team strike gold completing the scoring quartet with her excellent 26th place finish.
Six other club athletes wore Essex colours. Rob Warner recorded his fastest 12k time in the senior men's race, finishing 195th. Hoseah Gikungu was 109th and Nick Shade 228th in the U15 Boys event, and Jamie Buckley-Stanton 112th for the U17s, while Gemma Phillips finished 95th in the U20 event and Bethany Hall was 127th in the U17 Women's race.
Photo: Jane Hallam
