European Junior Triathlon Champion, Georgia Taylor Brown, helped the Great Britain and Northern Ireland athletics team to a fantastic team bronze at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. It was the first medal of any kind won by GB & NI since 2004. World Class funded triathlete, Gordon Benson, also featured in the junior men’s team.
The junior women’s event was dominated by Kenya and Ethiopia, but Taylor Brown finished in an excellent 17th place, just one place and seven seconds behind Britain’s top finisher, Emelia Gorecka. Taylor Brown finished in 19min 26seconds over the 6km course.
The race was won by Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon of Kenya (17:51) and Kenya also took the team title.
Taylor Brown commented: “It’s amazing to get that third team place – all the way around people were shouting that we were moving up, so I had to hold off a few of the athletes there at the end. It killed me, but I’m so happy with that race.”
Gordon Benson helped the GB & NI team improve on their last IAAF World Cross Country outings with ninth place. Benson finished 58th in 23min 50seconds over the 8km course. Top GB & NI finisher was Jonathan Davies in 35th place (23:22) and the winner was Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia (21.04).
Benson commented: “That was the hardest race of my life, no doubt about it. The Kenyans and Ethiopians are so quick; you don’t want to just let them run away but you don’t really have a choice.
“This is unreal cross country, I’ve run in all sorts of conditions but this is the toughest race and toughest course I’ve ever done. I’ve done what is supposedly the hardest triathlon course in the world but that was nothing compared to this.”
Kenya took the senior women’s title and Ethiopia the men’s.
