A British lion emblem was added in July 2004, after qualification for the 10,000m at the Athens Olympics!

As the athletes passed the finish for the first time (after 800m) in the Senior Women's four lap race Paula RADCLIFFE, Liz YELLING, Kathy BUTLER and Hayley YELLING were all well positioned in the main pack. By the end of the first full lap a group of about 15 had broken away with Paula and Deena Drossin leading the way. By the end of the second lap Paula had broken away with three other athletes including Drossin, with Liz, Kathy and Hayley all retaining positions in the top 30. By the end of the third lap Paula and Drossin had broken away and Paula began to open up a lead going into the fourth lap and ran strongly to pull away from Drossin and Colleen De Reuck who led the USA to a team Silver medal.

The Norwich Union GB Team finished fifth in the team competition and first European nation with 69 points just two points behind Japan in fourth (67points).

Kathy Butler ran well over the final lap to pick up a few places and finish in 20th position in a time of 28:12. She said:

"I am quite happy. It was a bit of an up and down race for me, but it was a solid performance. I picked off five or six people on the last lap. I felt strong and others were fading but the finishing straight was so hard"

Kathy Butler (Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow), who led the Norwich Union GB Senior Women’s Team to Bronze medals at this year’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships, scored a brilliant victory to win Sunday's 25th Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños in Spain on Sunday 19 December in her first cross country race of the season.

She pulled away from the rest of the field with Ines Monteiro at about halfway, then gradually drew away from the Portuguese runner, who finished seventh in last weekend's Spar European Cross Country Championships.

Butler, who won the 6.6km race in 20:38, ten seconds ahead of Monteiro told reporters: "I felt great throughout the race and hope this is a good beginning for a marvellous 2005 season for me”.

Pre-race: Senior Women’s 8km Championship: Running: The three medallists from last year are all in good form: Defending Champion Kathy Butler (Scotland East), who led home the Norwich Union GB Bronze medallists in Brussels 12 months ago, is back from her USA training base in good shape; last year’s Silver medallist Natalie Harvey (Surrey) won the IAAF Permit meeting in Diekirch, Luxembourg, a few weeks ago; and last year’s Bronze medallist Hayley Yelling has not only won the European title but also romped to victory in the English National.

Pre-race: Kathy Butler, who led the Norwich Union GB Senior Women to the 8km Bronze medals last year and who made her World Cross Country Championships debut at 16. She was 59^th in the Junior Women’s race on her first appearance, in Aix-les-Baines, France, in 1990.  Last year, 12 World Cross Country Championships after her debut, Kathy was a heroine twice over. She finished 11^th in the 8km race to lead Norwich Union GB to the Team Bronze medals and less than 24 hours later was 20^th in the 4km race.

Kathy and Hayley Yelling have both volunteered to double their efforts in GB’s chase for medals. Kathy, who last year finished 11^th in the 8km race and 20^th in the 4km the following day, says; “The 8km is my focus but I always said that if I can also run the 4km, I would be happy to try and help the team to do as well as we can. Every year is different as I never know how well I will recover from running the day before. Last year the 4km was a bit of a struggle but there’s only one way to run the World Cross – as hard as you can.”

She did the bulk of her training in Bolder and says: “I’ve approached things slightly differently this year so it’s taken me a bit longer to come down to sea level and feel good. But I think my fitness is pretty similar to last year.”

Of GB’s medal prospects, she says: “It’s always hard to know how strong the other teams are going to be on the day but of course I think we have got a good chance.”