Fife athletes amongst the country's best

A team of four from Fife AC raced at the at the British Cross Country Challenge event at Liverpool’s Sefton Park, which doubled up as the trials for the European Cross Country Championships and the European Club Cross Country Championships.

There Jen Spence (Ceres), Jen Cruickshanks (from Lundin Links), Steph Pennycook (Kirkcaldy), and Helen Sharpe (from St Andrews) beat counterparts from Wales and England to qualify to represent Great Britain at the prestigious championships in Albufeira, Portugal in February.

A Fife AC spokesman said: “As well as being a huge achievement for Fife AC, it is also a huge achievement for Scottish club athletics as a whole, as it’s the first time a Scottish women’s team has ever qualified in the history of the event.”

To reach the trials in Liverpool, the Fife club first had to come throgh an initial qualification process at the Scottish XC relays.

Underpinning the strength of the squad, taking part in that event were Jenny Selman (Falkland), Halina Rees (St Andrews), Megan Crawford (St Andrews) and Helen Sharpe.