THREE Scots have guaranteed their selection for GB at next months’s European Cross-Country Championships, which will take place in Lisbon on the 8th of December.
GB vests were up for grabs at the weekend’s UKA Cross Challenge in Liverpool, with a top-four placing enough to ensure selection for GB would follow.
Sol Sweeney, who trains alongside Laura Muir and is coached by Andy Young, finished in fourth place in the men’s under-23 race and has ensured he will don a GB vest in two weeks time.
Sweeney, who will celebrate his 21st birthday just a few days before the |European Championships, is primarily a 1500m runner, but has been in excellent cross-country form this winter so far.
At the start of the month, the Glasgow University runner finished second to Olympian, Andy Butchart, in the Lindsays Scottish Short-Course Cross-Country Championships with an impressive run and he backed that up with his run in Liverpool.
Also guaranteed selection for Lisbon are Megan Keith of Inverness Harriers after finishing in third place in the women’s under-20 race and Hamish Armitt of Giffnock North AC after grabbing fourth place in the men’s under-20 race, both of whom will make their GB debuts in Lisbon
The GB team will be announced today, with a number of other Scots in the frame for selection including Cera Gemmell of Team East Lothian after sixth place at women’s U20, Jamie Crowe of Central AC after fifth place in the senior men’s race, Jamie Williamson of Springburn Harriers after fifth place men’s under-23 and Hamish Hickey of Central AC after eighth place in the men’s under-20.
Jess Judd and Ben Conner won the women’s and men’s senior races respectively.
Meanwhile, Robert Hawkins, who won Coach of the year at Scottish Athletics FPSG Awards dinner on Saturday had even more reason to celebrate when his athlete, Jess Piasecki, ran the third fastest marathon ever by a British woman in crossing the line in the Florence marathon, her first-ever marathon, in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 28 seconds.
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