Nottingham joy: Natasha secures World Cross selection amid medal rush

Sunday 10th March 2024

Natasha Phillips and Scott Stirling in Nottingham (photos by Neil Renton)

The West District team stole the show at the Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships in Nottingham on Saturday – on one of the most successful days collectively for Scots at this event.

With a medal haul of two individual wins, three team golds and a team bronze, the West athletes gave terrific performances.

Scotland East for their part came home with three individual thirds and a team gold and silver while Scotland North were well-represented by their three young athletes.

Conditions were fast and firm underfoot for the event which also incorporated the Trials for the World Cross in Belgrade.

In the U20 Women, Natasha Phillips guaranteed selection by finishing third behind Innes Fitzgerald who has dominated cross country in that age group this season. Millie McClelland-Brooks, running up an age group, finished in eighth place.

Alice Goodall and Scott Stirling both had excellent runs to finish third in the Senior Women’s (8k) and Senior Men’s (10k).

Scott narrowly missed silver when crossing the line together with Tom Evans in a sprint finish. Jamie Crowe wasn’t too far behind in seventh.

Only the first finisher was guaranteed selection so they will all have to wait until after Monday’s selection meeting to see if they have booked their flight to Serbia.

Craig Shennan ran up an age in an attempt to make the team and had a strong run to finish fourth so will be in contention for the U20 Men’s team.

In the U17 events, Scotland’s West District won the double with James Alexander (Garscube Harriers) and Zara Redmond (Kilbarchan AAC) taking the wins over the course leading both teams to U17 gold.

In that U17 Mens race, Alasdair Nugent was fourth. In the U17 Women’s, Zara was backed up by Ruth Walsh in fourth and Jessica Inglis in sventh as the West team packed superbly.

In the U15 Boys race, Scotland dominated by taking first (West 55 points) and second team (East 63 points).

There were top ten finishes for Diabhidh Kinnard in ninth and Callum Dick at 10th. Not to be out-done the East U15 girls took team gold with Freya Brown leading them home in seventh.

Well done to all the athletes some great performances on the day. Thanks to the team managers and coaches who made the trip to support the team.

With thanks to Angela Mudge