LEIGH Harriers’ Lauren Howarth won her sixth gold team medal representing Great Britain at the European Cross Country Championships at Hye’res on the C’ote Azur in the South of France.
The 25-year-old did not get the greatest of starts against the some of the best in Europe, but with with team medals going to be tight in a good class field, Howarth worked her way into fourth counter for the team and into a team gold position.
In a mad sprint for the line she won 17th place in a time of 26mins 43secs giving the GB team a total of 33 points and beating the host nation to team gold.
Howarth had won selection for her sixth European Cross Country Championships after a fifth-placed finish against the cream of the country’s runners at the European Cross Country trials at Sefton Park Liverpool at the end of November to qualify for France.
This was the second time Howarth had won the senior ladies GB vest in these championships, but she has also run this tournament twice as an under 20 lady, twice as an under 23 lady winning an individual bronze medal as an under 20 in 2008.
She was also part of the GB team that had won five team gold medals previously - and her run on Sunday ensured that haul became half a dozen.
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