Suffolk athlete John (Jack) Millar has been selected to run for Great Britain at next month’s European Cross Country Championships.
The in-form Millar, a member of Ipswich Harriers, ran a storming race at last weekend’s Cross Challenge meeting in Liverpool, which incorporated the Great Britain Trials for the European Championships within the senior/under-23 and under-20 races.
Millar finished an outstanding 15th overall in the combined senior/under-23 men’s event, held over 9.8K, finishing sixth under-23 (in a time of 28mins 47secs) and so therefore securing selection in the six-strong squad, in the face of stiff competition.
Millar had also shone in the earlier rounds of the British Athletics Cross Challenge, at Cardiff (fifth) and Milton Keynes (fourth).
A third year maths student at Bath University, last weekend was another terrific performance from Millar, who is coached by Steve Hicks at Ipswich Harriers.
He ran for England at the Home Countries (Schools) Cross Country International in Nottingham last March, winning the event comfortably, and has also triumphed on the Suffolk roads with wins at the Ipswich Twilight 10K (30:40, in August) and Framlingham 10K (30:58, in September).
Now he will be donning a GB vest on the continent.
The prestigious European Championships will take place in Tilbury, Netherlands, on Sunday week (December 9).
Millar’s under-23 team-mates are headed by 2016 individual and three-time bronze medallist Mahamed Mahamed, plus Emile Cairess, Patrick Dever, Oliver Fox and Paulos Surafel.
Meanwhile, there were some excellent runs from other Ipswich Harriers at the Liverpool event.
Tilly Aldis was 25th in the under-15 girls’ age group, with a time of 11:27 for the 3K course, while Max Fisher notched 25th in the under-13 boys’ event, clocking 11:18 for the same 3K distance.
Under-20 athletes Alexander Lawrence (71st) and Alex Tripp (96th) relished the chance to run in such a high-calibre field, registering 21:31 and 22:05 respectively over 6.7K.
Holly Fisher, in action in the combined under-17/under-20 women’s race, finished 69th overall and 29th in her under-17 age group, with 16:34 over 4.4K.
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