Mountain runners continue weekend of GB success...
The GB senior men's team pick up the silver
The 2013 GB & NI crack team of mountain runners headed out to Bulgaria this weekend for the European MR Champs, and returned home with a pretty decent medal haul, to add to those won by the Brits at the Trail World Champs in Wales…
With Steve Vernon (5th) leading the men to team silver, Emma Clayton (6th) leading the women to team bronze and the junior women taking a team silver, it was a pretty good day’s work from the Brits in Borovets.
After 6 straight wins at these championships Ahmet Arslan was beaten to the title this year by Italy’s Bernard Dematteis, and with Alex Baldaccini taking the silver, the Turkish dynamo had to settle for third. Steve Vernon’s fifth place finish should not be underestimated either.
The Stockport man was less than a minute off an individual medal, and with Chris Smith having a stormer in 8th and Orlando Edwards in 18th, the trio did enough for the bronze. Robbie Simpson finished in 29th.
The women's podium with Andrea Mayr centre
In the women’s event Clayton was equally impressive, leading the charge for the GB girls, up against some of the world’s best mountain runners, never mind just Europe. Swiss legend Andrea Mayr was the dominant force in the women’s race, winning by over a minute from Valentina Belotti and Slovenia’s Mateja Kosovelj.
Emma Clayton in the zone ahead of the 8.8km women's race
Backed-up by Olivia Walwyn (21st) and Sarah Tunstall (25th), the British women did enough to sneak a brilliant bronze.
Catriona Graves led the junior women to silver with an excellent 6th and 2012 champion Annabel Mason was 8th. With Max Wharton in 18th leading the junior men to 7th in the team standings it had been a preety decent weekend in Bulgaria.
Further reports from European Athletics, British Athletics and Athletics Weekly, with full results links on the EMRC 2013 website here.
Some images via Emma Clayton here with more to follow…
