Gemma Steel claimed individual silver as Team GB ruled the roost at the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, winning 9 medals in total.
Steel, who is preparing to race her first marathon in 2014, fought well and provided a gutsy sprint finish as she fought off rival Anna Dulche-Felix of Portugal to finish 2nd behind France’s Sophie Duarte.
After the race Steel said that she was happy with her run and was relieved to beat Dulche-Felix, to whom she lost out to in a similar sprint finish in the same event two years ago: “I was chuffed with beating Dulche in a sprint finish, because she’s beaten me before… when I got the bronze medal, she nicked the silver off me there.”
Asked whether she thought she could come back to win next year’s race in the Bulgarian mountains of Samakov, Steel said that she hoped so, so that she could escape her self-proclaimed ‘bridesmaid’ tag. Steel did however take home one gold from the day, after top 15 finishes from Julia Bleasdale, Lauren Howarth and Steph Twell ensured that the team finished in 1st position.
That team victory was one of four for Team GB, as they won each of the women’s categories as well as the men’s under 23 race. With the senior men also taking a bronze after strong finishes from individual bronze medallist Andy Vernon and 4th scorer Adam Hickey, it was only the inexperienced junior men’s squad who were left without a medal after they narrowly finished 4th behind Italy. The result was doubly agonising for Jonny Davies, who finished 4th in the individual standings having been in the top 3 for the majority of the race.
Emelia Gorecka completed her junior career in emphatic style by winning gold in the day’s first race as she produced arguably the best British performance of the day, blowing away the field after breaking out from the pack after two laps of the fast course.
After the race, Gorecka said she was happy to end her time as a junior on a high and to have lived up to her tag of favourite: “I’m really happy, that was a really good race!” said Gorecka, “This year especially, with it being my last chance, it was a big deal and I was a bit nervous but I came through it well. It was scary because I’m in really good shape so if it hadn’t gone well I would have been slightly disappointed.”
Another Aldershot and Farnham athlete to medal was Charlotte Purdue, who in her last year as an under 23 athlete finished 3rd behind Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan and Serbian Home favourite, Amela Terzic. After the race Purdue could not hide her disappointment at not winning the race but she said that she couldn’t have given it anymore: “I’m very disappointed, I always give myself really high expectations, I did go in there hoping for the win…I can hand on heart say I did give it everything, I couldn’t have tried any harder, which for me to is a big thing to say.”
It was the Women’s under 23 race that highlighted how much strength in depth Britain has right now, as both NCAA medallist Kate Avery and team Stalwart, Lily Partridge also finished in the top 5. Rhona Auckland and Olympic finalist Laura Weightman weren’t far behind finishing in 7th and 8th respectively.
Partridge who will be moving up to seniors next year, described the race as her best ever and said that she was exited to make up the step up next year: “I’m super excited, if I can stay illness and injury free, I definitely want to be on that plane next year and see what I can do in the senior race because that’s what really matters.”
