BOURNEMOUTH AC ROAD AND DISTANCE RUNNING INFORMATION

Here is a report from Suzie Hignett's European Cross Country Gold Medal success. Click here to go back to our main index page.

Hignett Helps Team GB To Gold
Susie end year on a high - Susie Hignett and Louise Damen helped Britain and Northern Ireland to its best ever medal haul at the European Cross Country Championships, reports Jon Sharkey.

Britain went top of the all-time championship medals table with four Gold medals, two Silvers and two Bronze in Toro, Spain, last weekend.

Bournemouth AC’s Hignett finished 18th in the 6,700m Women’s Under 23 race as Britain claimed team Gold. She came through the field to clock 23:35, exactly a minute behind the winning time of Romania’s Ancuta Bobocel.

Felicity Milton (5th, 23:02), Katrina Wooton (8th, 23:08), Katherine Sparke (16th, 23:32), Sarah Tunstall (24th, 23:46) and Jessica Sparke (30th, 23:53) completed the winning Britain squad.

The team victory capped a fine year for Hignett and added a third major Gold medal to her 2007 haul. In March and June respectively, she won the British Universities 3000m title and England Athletics Under 23 5000m championship.

Louise Damen won Senior Women’s team Silver to commemorate her long-awaited Euro Cross comeback. The Bournemouth-based athlete returned to the competition after a five year absence brought on by a catalogue of injuries and illnesses.

A consistent race placed Damen 34th (28:35) in an 8,200m contest won on home soil by Spain’s Marta Dominguez (26:58). Parkstone resident Liz Yelling (27:31) marked her tenth appearance in the competition with a top ten finish just three seconds behind sister-in-law Hayley Yelling.

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