Waldron shines on England debut

Sarah Waldron (33) hopes to qualify for the European Championships

Herefordshire's Sarah Waldron finished 10th on her England cross country debut in Belgium in a 6.4km event.

Waldron felt she had done enough for future consideration by the selectors.

"They were very impressed so I was very happy," she said. "They thought I looked strong and ran well so that's given me confidence."

Waldron, from Pudleston, near Leominster, earned her call-up to the England senior squad as a result of her win in the Birmingham Cross Challenge.

She was satisfied with her showing in Belgium as this was always going to be a step-up in class. And she admitted that the conditions were completely different to any other race she had run in.

"The course was practically all sand," she told BBC Hereford and Worcester. "Four laps of the same loop, so it was something that we weren't used to.

"But everyone was having to go through the same thing, so I thought I would just go out there and give it everything I'd got and it was good."

Sarah's next target is a place in the Great Britain team for the European Championships which, were she to qualify, would see her again running in Belgium in mid-December.

She will run in the national trials in Liverpool's Sefton Park on 29 November. And she is determined to go one better than in each of the previous two years when she finished one place outside the qualifying spots.

"I'm really determined but I think a lot of it is down to what happens on the day," she said.

"I'm going to go in there and give it what I've got and hopefully come out a little luckier than I have been in the last two years."