Merrien happy with bronze medal

Lee Merrien proudly displays the team bronze medal he won on Sunday

Lee Merrien has said he was happy with how he ran at the European Cross Country Championships on Sunday.

The 29-year-old Guernseyman helped Great Britain to win a team bronze medal as he finished 22nd overall and was the fourth fastest British runner.

"It was the biggest honour I've had in my athletics career so far, it felt really good," he told BBC Guernsey.

"I consistently kept myself in the right position. Where I finished was a fair reflection of how the race went."

He added: "I didn't start too quickly and didn't drop too much.

"I was always between 18th and 26th spot and finished 22nd so I think I ran a fairly sensible race overall."

Merrien said that finishing in the top four of the six-strong British team, and therefore counting towards the overall team placing, was a good feeling.

"I thought if I had a good race and matched my performance in the trials I would be a counter and that's pretty much how it turned out in the end," he said.

"I wouldn't have been disappointed finishing fifth or sixth in the team as long as my own individual performance was good.

"But I contributed towards getting the team bronze so that's more satisfaction being part of the scoring team than just being one of the other runners."