European Cross Country Championships

We recently reported on the disappointment of Morpeth Harrier Rory Leonard,
in that he was forced to pull out of the Under 20 Men’s race in the UK Challenge Meeting in Liverpool,
which also meant that he had possibly scuppered his chances of making the Great Britain team that is competing this coming weekend in Tilburg, in the Netherlands in the European Cross Country Championships.

However, following events in Liverpool, fortunes for Leonard have somewhat changed,
in that the GB selectors saw fit to eventually include him in their final squad,
based on his excellent performances recently in Cardiff and Spain,
where he ran very closely to team leader Jake Heyward of Cardiff.

Providing Leonard could prove his fitness before Monday gone,
the selectors would be quite happy to still include him.

Following two very stringent fitness tests given to him by his coach,
a delighted Leonard has been found fit to travel and compete,
and will now line up in Tilburg this Sunday, in the Under 20 Men’s event ,
alongside Heyward, Isaac Akers of Corby in Northants, Euan Brennan of Ilkley,
Zakariya Mahamed of Southampton AC, Jack Meijer of Milton Keynes,
Tom Mortimer of Stroud and District, and Matthew Willis of Wrexham AC,
​in the hope of bringing home championship medals, possibly Gold hopefully.