Richard Goodman achieved a remarkable victory in the GB trial race for the European Under 20 Cross Country Championships over 6.7 km in Liverpool.
Always comfortable in the leading group, Goodman, 16, broke away in the last 200 metres to win by four seconds. A measure of his achievement is that runner-up James Wilkinson is three years his senior and six seconds faster over 1500 metres, while further down the field, Simon Horsfield, 19, has a 3:41.77 1500m time that is equivalent to a sub-4-minute mile.
Goodman will now join the GB team for the European Championships in Dublin on December 13.
Goodman said: “After my performance in the National Cross Country Relays a month ago, where I was third fastest Under 20, I realised that I could challenge for a place on the GB team for the Europeans. I decided to prepare by taking a break from competition and stepped up my training from 40 to 60 miles a week.
