Liverpool Cross Challenge: who, what and when guide

All the things you could know concerning the European Cross Nation trials in Sefton Park on Saturday November 23

The Liverpool Cross Problem, one of the vital anticipated occasions within the British cross nation calendar, will happen this Saturday (November 23) at Sefton Park.

The occasion doubles because the trials for the upcoming European Cross Nation Championships with athletes aiming to safe a spot for the British workforce heading to Antalya subsequent month.

Arguably probably the most thrilling race of the day would be the senior girls’s occasion. With final yr’s winner, Megan Keith, who was competing as an under-23 athlete, lacking from the entries, the race is extensive open.

Abbie Donnelly, who was the primary senior girls over the road at Sefton Park in 2023, can be searching for a victory to make sure her place in Turkey, having already clinched a bronze medal on the European Cross final yr – her first ever particular person main championships medal.

Nonetheless, she faces stiff competitors from a gifted area, together with Kate Axford, the highest British finisher and third general on the Cardiff Cross Problem earlier this month, and Jessica Warner-Judd, who positioned eighth within the World Championships 10,000m and has a powerful file on the occasion in earlier years.

The sector additionally options a number of different notable athletes, comparable to Cari Hughes, who was the second Brit at Cardiff, Amelia Quirk, Jess Gibbon, former Euro Cross winner Gemma Metal and 2022 World College cross nation champion Izzy Fry.

Tokyo 2021 800m finalist Alex Bell may also be becoming a member of the race after deciding to concentrate on cross nation and street working, transferring away from observe and area.

On the senior males’s aspect, the 8km race guarantees a fierce competitors, with Hugo Milner, final yr’s winner, seeking to defend his title. The triathlete completed fourth finally yr’s Euro Cross and can be aiming for a podium end this time spherical after securing the Nationwide cross nation title in September.

Zak Mahamed, the primary Brit in Cardiff and seventh general, may also be a powerful contender, seeking to enhance on his twenty seventh senior place finally yr’s Euro Cross. Mahamed additionally received European under-23 silver in 2022.

Different athletes to observe embody Inter-Counties champion Calum Johnson, who made the World Cross workforce earlier this yr, Scottish cross nation champion Jamie Crowe and the Wheeler twins, Charlie and George.

British 5000m and indoor 3000m champion James West may also race, alongside prime opponents comparable to Rory Leonard, Ben Connor and Scott Beattie.

The under-23 problem appears to be like set to be led by final yr’s European under-23 champion Will Barnicoat.

On the ladies’s aspect, the under-23 race seems way more open, with a number of athletes in rivalry for the highest spot. Notable names embody Anna Hedley, Bea Wooden and Charlotte Alexander, all of whom can be keen to say victory.

Unusually, the under-23 athletes will line up and race alongside the senior opponents however the youthful runners will cowl a shorter course and due to this fact peel off for the end at an earlier stage than the seniors.

Within the under-20 girls’s race, Innes FitzGerald, who received the European Cross title final yr at simply 18 years previous, would be the one to beat after her dominant victory on the Cardiff Cross earlier this month.

Jess Bailey, who completed simply two seconds behind FitzGerald on the World Cross this yr, may also be a serious contender, particularly after setting a UK 5km file of 15:25 this month, knocking seven seconds off FitzGerald’s earlier mark.

The junior girls’s race may also function Cardiff under-17 winner Isla McGowan, under-20 runner-up Lizzie Wellsted and Natasha Phillips, the British under-20 half-marathon record-holder.

Eliza Nicholson, who represented Britain on the World Cross, will make her return from harm, whereas Alice Bates and Zoe Gilbody may also be within the combine.

Cardiff runner-up Libby Hale may also toe the road alongside Ellarose Whitworth, who completed simply behind her in Cardiff, in addition to Olivia Forrest and Shaikira King.

Within the males’s under-20 race, Cardiff winner William Rabjohns will look to proceed his successful streak, however he’ll face stiff competitors from Henry Dover, who completed six finally yr’s Euro Cross, and an in-form Rowan Miell-Ingram. Evan Grime and Mark Ruby, who took silver at Cardiff, may also be robust contenders.

Cardiff winner Matthew Clark can be vying for the under-17 title, with runner-up Jack Marwood and third-place finisher Luke Dunham additionally within the combine.

The day’s motion will get underway at 10:30am with the brief course relay trials, which is able to assist to determine the British line-up for the combined relay in Antalya.

Callum Elson, who has not too long ago returned from harm, and Josh Lay are anticipated to guide the lads’s area whereas Abbi Ives, Elise Thorner and Kirsty Walker are ones to look out for within the girls’s race. Warner-Judd, who’s coming back from scuffling with epilepsy throughout races earlier this yr, can also be down on the entries listing.

Timetable

10:30 European males’s brief course relay trial – 1.5km
10:35 European girls’s brief course relay trial – 1.5km
10:45 U11 boys – 2km
10:55 U11 women – 2km
11:05 U13 women – 3km
11:20 U13 boys – 3km
11:35 U15 boys – 3km
11:50 U15 women – 3km
12:05 U17 Girls and World Athletics Junior Girls (U20) European trial – 4.4km
12:25 U17 Males and World Athletics Junior Males (U20) European trial – 4.4km
12:45 Senior Girls (inc U23 Girls’s European Trial) – 5.6km U23, 8km SW
13:50 Senior Males (inc U23 Males’s European Trial) – 5.6km U23, 8km SM

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