Merrien’s eighth place a nudge to British cross-country selectors

By Rob Batiste

LEE MERRIEN continued his rich vein of early-season cross-country form with a top-10 finish in Saturday’s big Gateshead International Open. The Guernseyman placed eighth in a large field for the 8.7km race, which doubled as the first event of this winter’s UK Cross Challenge.

‘It’s my best finish in a good quality UK cross-country so to that extent I’m happy enough,’ said Merrien afterwards.

‘It was a solid enough run.’

Merrien was among the four early pace-setters in the six-lap race, highlights of which will be shown on Sky Sports on Wednesday.

But while Burundi-born Jean Ndayisenga (Birchfield Harriers) and Tom Humphries (Cannock & Staffs) contested the lead, Merrien dropped back before finishing strongly on the final circuit.

With only four British qualified runners finishing ahead of him, Merrien’s run will not have gone unnoticed by the British selectors and he has another opportunity to impress in race two of the UK Cross Challenge in a fortnight, which doubles as a qualifier for the European Championships.

Steph Twell, well known in Guernsey for her performances at the Healthspan Easter Festival, finished second in the women’s race behind Hayley Yelling.