England team for Elgoibar cross country international

England have named a full team of 16 athletes to gain invaluable experience against leading African and European runners at the prestigious international cross country meeting in Elgoibar, Spain, on Sunday 13 January.

The representatives in the senior men’s 10.5km race are Mark Hood (Sunderland Harriers), Tom Humphries (Cannock and Stafford AC), Andy Livingstone (Thurrock Harriers) and Matthew Watson (Bingley Harriers).

The quartet for the senior women’s 6.4km race are Charlene Snelgrove-Thomas (Wakefield Harriers), twins Jessica and Katherine Sparke (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) plus Rachel Townend (also Woodford Green with Essex Ladies).

In the junior men’s 6.5km race are Philip Berntsen (Andover and District AC), Ben Hunter (Southend on Sea AC), James Robinson (West Norfolk AC) and Michael Williams (Leeds City AC).

The junior women’s 4km race will be contested by Beth Carter (Invicta East Kent AC), Emma Pallant (Aldershot, Farnham and District AC), Ellie Sprake (Ipswich Harriers) and Stevie Stockton (Vale Royal AC).

The Elgoibar meeting has held a significant place in the cross country fixtures calendar since 1963, when the men’s race was won by Mammo Wolde (Ethiopia), who went on to win the 1968 Olympic marathon.

England have been sending teams since 1965, when Mel Batty and Ron Hill were first and second in the men’s race. Batty, of course, went on to coach the current England team manager Eamonn Martin through his glittering career in which, among other things, he set the UK 10,000m record, won the English National Cross Country Championships in 1984 and 1992, was in the last GB men’s team to win medals (bronze) at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 1992 and was the last GB male to win the London Marathon, in 1993.

At last year’s Elgoibar meeting, the leading England athletes were Phil Nicholls (Tipton Harriers) ninth in the senior men’s race on his way to earning a place in the Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland team at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombassa; Vicky Gill (Aldershot, Farnham and District AC) tenth in the senior women’s race; Katie Knowles (Bristol and West AC), Lily Partridge (Aldershot, Farnham and District AC) and Mary Ferrier (Gateshead Harriers) first, second and third in the junior women’s race; and Andy Livingstone second in the junior men’s race. Since then, Livingstone has run for GB in the World Cross junior men’s race in Mombassa and shown so much promise that Manager Martin has had no hesitation in giving him his senior debut this weekend. And Martin knows him well: he is Livingstone’s coach.