LEIGH Harrier Peter Riley will lead the Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland senior men's team into the 24th SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Toro, Spain, on Sunday - considering it a surprise step on the long roads towards next summer's Olympics in Beijing and London 2012.

A decade on from his European debut as a junior, Riley is looking forward to what he considers to be an unexpected opportunity to add to the silver and bronze team medals he has won over the years.

Having won last month's trial ahead of the reigning English National and UK Inter-Counties champion Frank Tickner, Riley said: "I hadn't really planned to take in the Euro Cross this winter. It's just something on the way to the Olympics, which is the be-all and end-all.

"Don't get me wrong. To make the team and run for Britain is always hard. But the London 2012 marathon is the main target for me and I want to go to Beijing along the way.

"But you train to race. I love the racing factor of it. My coach Dave Cannon has set up a really good schedule for me - the Dubai half marathon in January, a Tokyo 10k in February - and it would be good to start it all off with another Euro medal. I think we've got a good enough team to make an impression."