Stars Shine In Sefton Park

JESS JUDD AND BEN CONNOR TAKE THE SENIOR HONOURS AS EUROPEAN CROSS COUNTRY SCORES ARE SETTLED

- Euan Crumley

THE light displays being switched on across the country are not only a sure sign that Christmas is coming but also that the European Cross Country Championships cannot be far away.

It was no surprise, therefore, to see plenty of athletes illuminating an action-packed autumn afternoon in Liverpool last weekend as the annual battles for places on the British team unfolded around Sefton Park.

This year’s continental showpiece takes place in Lisbon, where conditions are likely to be far removed from the increasing levels of Merseyside mud which tested competitors to the limit last weekend.

Aggressive running was still met with the biggest rewards, however, as Jess Judd and Ben Connor led the way in the senior races which provided the climax to another meorable British Athletics Cross Challenge event run in conjunction with the Mid Lancashire Cross Country League and the Liverpool and District Cross Country League.

There was significant encouragement also to be taken by the impressive performances on show across the younger age groups.

Senior women

JESS JUDD’S PhD in regenerative medicine can involve experiments which require the deliberate breaking down of muscle tissue. For someone who also spends much of her life in the pursuit of building up her own anatomical strength and fitness, it can be quite a contrast to deal with.

Judging by her winning run in Liverpool, however, the Loughborough student is managing to find just the right balance.

Judd was due in the laboratory almost immediately after she had beaten the rest of the senior women’s field at Sefton Park last Saturday but the 24-year-old headed for work with a post-race spring in her step and a broad grin on her face rather than having to pick over the bones of a sub-par performance.