The Under 17s showed that they could mix it with the athletes in the older age group, filling three of the top six places.

Under 20 Claire Holme, who during the race had built up a 50m lead at one point, came home in 17:50 just three seconds ahead of fast finishing Under 17 Sian Edwards (Kettering Town Harriers). 

Having just moved up to the Under 17 age group, Sian Edwards was perhaps the surprise package, not herself expecting for more than a top ten finish.

She said: “I’m really pleased, I didn’t know what to expect really. I have never raced with Under 20 athletes, I couldn’t believe I was so close to Claire Holme.”

Edwards' coach Neville Marshall was delighted with her performance. He said: “She often lacks confidence to mix it with the athletes at the front, but today she really went for it.”

Pre-race: The leading Under 17 in the race who is eligible for selection could be Sian Edwards (Kettering Town Harriers), who was first Under 17 and second overall in the combined Under 20/Under 17 race in Birmingham.

In the absence of Falkirk winner Non Stanford (Swansea Harriers), who will return from the Norwich Union sponsored ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in South Africa on the day of the race, the leading Under 17 in Birmingham, Sian Edwards (Kettering Town Harriers), will probably be the leading contender.  She will be challenged by the third Under 17 in Birmingham Stephanie Twell (Aldershot Farnham & District), who also ran the fastest leg to lead her club to victory in the English Cross Country Relays.

Also in the field are the equal leaders in the Reebok Cross Challenge standings, Siobhan Coleman (Pitreavie AAC) and Jessica Sparke (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies AC).

UK Inter-Countries XC

Central Trains Under 20 Women’s 6km:

Running: It’s always hard to spot front-runners because Under 17s have a habit of upsetting Under 20 form-guides. Siobhan Coleman (Scotland East) leads the Reebok Cross Challenge Under 17 standings. Sian Edwards (Northamptonshire) won the National Under 17 title a fortnight ago, ahead of all the Under 20s eligible for this race, having earned a place in the Norwich Union GB Junior Women’s Team that won Silver medals at December’s Spar European Cross Country Championships. Hannah England (Oxfordshire) currently leads the Reebok Cross Challenge Under 20 standings. Karrie Hawitt (Cheshire) is the defending Champion and has an extra reason to get to the World Cross Country Championships – the Junior Women’s race is on her 19^th birthday, 19 March. Morag MacLarty (Scotland East) won the Commonwealth Youth Games 1500m title in Australia pre-Christmas and led the Norwich Union GB Junior Team to success in the annual Lisbon International a few weeks ago. Sara Ponsford (Wiltshire) is second in the Reebok Cross Challenge Under 20 standings. Stephanie Twell (Aldershot, Farnham and District AC) is the National Under 17 Silver medallist.

Asked selectors to consider: Emily Pidgeon (Gloucester AC) has won the last two European Trials Junior Women’s races without being old enough to take her place in the Norwich Union GB Team, and has informed the selectors she intends to run in the English Schools Championships on 12 March rather than the Reebok UK Inter-Counties Championships.

Reebok UK Inter-Counties Champion Sian Edwards (Kettering Town Harriers) also ran above expectations, taking 34^th place in 22:45. The 16-year-old Kettering Town Harrier, coached by Neville Marshall, was the youngest member of last year’s silver medal-winning British team at the European Cross Country Championships.

Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland finishing as leading Europeans in eighth.

Edwards, who was watched by her parents Phil and Alison, said she had recovered from a poor start, when runners began to pass her on both sides. “It was boiling,” said the 16-year-old, who won her Inter-Counties title in a freezing blizzard in Nottingham a fortnight ago. “It was so different from running cross country in England, with all that snow.

“The worst bit was when I reached the 3km marker. I was absolutely shattered by then, and I thought, ‘’Oh no! I’ve got to do it all over again.’ “  

Athlete of the Month

March 2005

www.paularadcliffe.com

16-year-old Sian Edwards (Kettering Town Harriers) – one of the athletes being helped by Dame Kelly Holmes through this season – won the Midlands Under 20 title in 9:27.69, inside the UKA qualifying standard of 9:30.00 for both the Euro Juniors and World Youth Games – and the second-fastest time ever by a UK Under 17.

AAA U20&U23 Track & Field Championships, Bedford

Pre-race: 1500m (4:20.00): While the amazing Emily Pidgeon (Gloucester) is expected to aim for the 5000m in Kaunas, she inevitably dominates the rankings all through the distances. She is European Juniors No.1 at 1500m has gone three seconds quicker this season than MacLarty, who is second in the UK rankings and fourth in Europe with 4:20.97. 

To underline the growing UK strength, Abby Westley is seventh in Europe with 4:21.99 – and then there are Kelly’s Campers entering the fray Charlotte Browning (Aldershot, Farnham and District), Danielle Christmas (Crawley), Hannah England (Oxford City), the Euro Juniors 3000m rankings leader Non Stanford (Swansea), Danielle Walker (Royal Sutton Coldfield) and Marrakech-bound Sian Edwards (Kettering).

Pre-race: Emily Pidgeon will be the overwhelming favourite even though the field includes European Junior 1500m Champion Morag MacLarty (Central AAC), who won at the Birmingham Cross Challenge at the start of this month and was last weekend named Scotland’s Athlete of the Year; in-form Nicola Sykes, who set a course record in leading Bedford and County AC to victory at the ECCA Relays Championships a fortnight ago; and several members of the squad being mentored by Olympic double Champion Dame Kelly Holmes including Charlotte Browning (Aldershot, Farnham and District), Dani Christmas (Crawley), Sian Edwards (Kettering), Hannah England (Oxford) and Non Stanford (Swansea Harriers).

'I'm relieved,' said Sian. 'My asthma pulled me up in Birmingham but I was all right today. I can't wait for Tilburg!'  

Pre-race: Only six athletes survive from the 24 athletes who helped make history at last year’s Championships when Norwich Union GB became the first team ever to win medals in all four races. These include Sian Edwards, who was in the Junior Women’s team that won Silver.

Teenager Emily Pidgeon finished second in her race to lead the Norwich Union Great Britain junior side to victory. She finished two seconds behind Romania's Ancuta Bobocel with Morag MacLarty sixth, Stephanie Twell seventh and Sian Edwards 15th to secure team honours. 

Pre-race: 

11.00: Junior Women (U20 at 31.12.06) and Senior Girls (schools) 5km – Pidgeon (Gloucester AC) has truly taken flight since winning, among many others, the Under 13 Girls’ race at Cardiff as recently as 2002. If her rapid progress to 2005 European Junior 5000m Champion and European Junior Cross Country Silver medallist is not sufficient inspiration for the schoolchildren gathering for their races, then maybe the sight of Non Stanford (Swansea Harriers) in her county schools team will catch their imagination. For Non – who was second to Emily in that Under 13 Girls’ race three years ago – spent last weekend at the Lisbon Junior International in Portugal, where she completed a Norwich Union GB 1-2-3 in the Junior Women’s race. Also in the Cardiff field are two more of the Norwich Union GB Junior Women who won the Team Gold medals at the European Cross Country Championships in Tilburg last month, Sian Edwards (Kettering Town Harriers) and Nicola Sykes (Bedford and County). And the lure of the Cross Challenge is evidenced by Scottish Champion Siobhan Coleman (Pitreavie) making the long flight south in search of a little more quality competition.  

Sian Edwards (Kettering Town Harriers) capitalized on Emily Pidgeon’s decision to move up to the Senior race in the bold manner that has become a trademark of the UK’s current generation of female endurance runners. From the gun, she shot off like one of the many startled squirrels who spent the afternoon scurrying up trees as the athletes pounded past. And when Steph Twell (Aldershot, Farnham and District) caught her in mid-race, she put on another surge and won by over 50m.

Had she intended to go off as quick? “No,” smiled Edwards. Why did she go off as quick? “I’ve no idea!” Except that it’s instinct among the women to race as hard as they can. Did she expect to win? “I was expecting to race Emily so I wasn’t expecting to win at all!”

Kettering Town Harriers’ Mighty Atom, 17-year-old Sian Edwards finished a superb tenth to lead Norwich Union Great Britain and Northern Ireland to fifth in the Junior Women’s Team competition at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, on Saturday 1 April.

Only in the Paula Radcliffe years of 1991 and 1992 have GB Juniors finished higher as a team in this, the toughest foot race yet invented for teenagers. Today’s performance on a hard, stamina sapping course dotted with steep hills and sharp turns, represents an encouraging improvement on the last two years: Norwich Union GB Junior Women’s Teams were 11^th in 2004 and eighth in 2005.

They went into action spurred by messages of encouragement from Dame Kelly Holmes and the GB Juniors ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in Melbourne – and responded magnificently to team instructions.

Edwards, the UK Inter-Counties and English National Under 20 Champion, improved from 34^th in last year’s World Cross in France with the kind of relentless power that belies her slight frame.

She was the leading European over the finishing line on the tough Umi-no-Nakamichi Seaside Park course, nine places and 36 seconds clear of her nearest rival from this continent. She also defeated the entire Japanese quartet that took the Team Bronze medals.

As usual, the 6km race was dominated by African athletes with Kenya taking all three individual medals. Pauline Korikwiang won in 19 minutes 27 seconds in a sprint finish against Veronica Wanjiru with Mercy Kosgei third in 19:45. Edwards’ time was 20:10.

Kenya took the Team Gold medals with only 10 points. Ethiopia were second with 29, Japan third with 58, Eritrea fourth with 83 and Norwich Union GB fifth with 116 – 17 points ahead of Russia – thanks to Edwards being supported by Stephanie Twell (Aldershot, Farnham and District AC) 31^st in 21:14; Non Stanford (Swansea Harriers) 37^th in 21:24; Danielle Sale (Orion Harriers) 38^th in 21:24; Jessica Sparke (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) 44^th in 21:41; and Joanne Harvey (Exeter Harriers) 51^st in 21:59.

Edwards ran the kind of aggressive race that has become her trademark this winter. After the opening charge from the starting pens, she was 19^th at the first electronic checkpoint but only two seconds behind the leader. At the halfway point, she was 12^th in 9:27. At the third checkpoint, she was up to 10^th in 16:12. From there, she hung on magnificently to hold off a concerted challenge from the home team cheered on by their supporters.

She said: “It was really good – magic, I think. I wanted to get better than last year, when I finished 34^th. I never dreamt I would anywhere near the Africans. I really don’t know why I ran so much better – I just felt really good. I have to thank my coach, Neville Marshall and everyone out here with the Team – they have been really amazing.”

Norwich Union GB Junior Women’s Team Leader Stella Bandu summed-up: “Sian showed an awful lot of confidence and determination, She was not fazed by anything at all. It was great to see her that high up in the race. She joins a very select group.

“The whole team did absolutely fantastically in a highly competitive race. By finishing fifth, they have beaten a lot of very good teams. It’s been a real privilege to be their Team Manager and I hope what they have gained from this will help them towards fulfilling their long term goals and potential. It’s been a good learning experience.

“The policy of enabling young athletes to compete at occasions like this can never be under-estimated. If they were all asked to write a short essay on what they have learnt, I think they would end up with very long essays!”

UK Athletics (UKA) says the World Cross Country Championships are still important to Britain, despite poor results in Japan at the weekend.

The championships are not one of the main global targets identified by UK Sport, but UKA Performance director Dave Collins says they are of value.

"It is a fantastic way to help youngsters come through," he said.

One of those youngsters was Sian Edwards, 17, who finished 10th in the 6km junior women's competition. 

The Kettering runner was the first non-African athlete over the line in Fukuoka.

It was the best result for a British junior since 1992 when Paula Radcliffe took gold and Jenny Clague finished fourth.

The junior team and the senior women's 8km racers had the best performances of the European teams in Japan, finishing fifth and seventh.

Sian Edwards also shrugged off the damp conditions to record a stunning victory in the 5,000m.

Pidgeon found herself isolated from the leading group and often making her own pace with fellow junior Sian Edwards (Kettering) close by watching her every move. Pidgeon dropped Edwards in the last mile and strode away to stop the clock at 15:41.00 to go second on the UK all time lists.

'I knew Sian was there so I upped the pace in the last few laps, and still felt strong at the end,' said Pidgeon.

Sian went third on the UK junior all time lists with her big PB of 15:50.69, also well inside the Beijing qualifying mark of 16:00.