British stars aiming for a date in Chia

31 Ottobre 2016

With 16 athletes qualifying for the long distance events at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the British distance running scene has improved and now three of the breakthrough stars of the summer have their sights sets on making the British team for the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Chia on 11 December. Callum Hawkins has been in sparkling form on the roads this season and the 24-year-old looks set to make just as much of an impression on the mud. Fresh from a record breaking run in the half marathon at the Great Scottish Run where he shaved more than two minutes off the Scottish record with victory in 1:00:24, Hawkins posted the fastest time of the day at the National Cross Country Relays in Cumbernauld with 11:01 for the 4km leg. That performance looks set to be a precursor to a full continental cross country season culminating in Chia in December.

“I’ve got my eye on Liverpool [for the British Trials on 26 November] and the Euro Cross. It is a couple of years since I was at that and it is something I want to do for this year” Hawkins told Athletics Weekly after the race. But the winners in Cumbernauld were the Central Athletics Club who were anchored by Olympic 5000m sixth-placer Andrew Butchart, who has lowered his lifetime best from 13:29.49 to 13:08.61 over the course of the season. Hawkins and Butchart will train together at altitude in Font Romeu before resuming their burgeoning domestic rivalry at the European Cross Country Trials on 26 November. “Myself and Andy [Butchart] are off to the Pyrenees for a full month of altitude training and we will come back just before the Euro Trials at Liverpool” confirmed Hawkins. Jess Andrews only made her 10,000m debut on the track in April but the 24-year-old qualified for the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after winning the British Trials in May in 31:58.00. She is also aiming to cap her breakthrough season by making the British team for Chia. “I’d absolutely love to make the European Cross Country Championships. This year has been quite successful so I’ll still be satisfied even if I don’t quality, there’s always next year” she said.

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