Twell leads GB hopes at World Champs

WORLD junior 1500m champion Steph Twell will spearhead Great Britain's charge at the World Cross Country Championships in Jordan on March 28.

YOUNG GUN: Teenager Steph Twell leads Great Britain's hopes in Jordan (Getty Images)

The 19-year-old cruised to victory at the trials in Nottingham last weekend, and represents Team GB's best chance of a medal in Amman, having secured her third European junior cross country title, in December.

Twell, who made her Olympic debut in Beijing last summer, was forced to sit out last year's World Cross Country Championships with a back injury.

In the men's event, Twell's Aldershot, Farnham and District AC team-mate Andy Vernon will also head to Jordan on a high, having captured victory in Nottingham.

Vernon claimed under-23 silver at the European Championships in Brussels in December, and will be joined in the senior ranks by Frank Tickner who finished second in the trials and 10th in Brussels.

Joining Twell is 2009 Cross Country National champion and former 3000m steeplechase British record holder Hatti Dean.

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And while UK Athletics national endurance coach Ian Stewart admits Team GB will face an uphill task in competing with the world's finest, he is convinced the experience will be beneficial.    

"The World Cross Country Championships is one of the toughest tests any distance runner can possibly face," he said.

"But this is not something that we should shy away from. It is fantastic opportunity for British athletes to compete against the very best endurance athletes in the world.

"Medals will be very hard to come by and may even be beyond our athletes at this stage of their development.

"But they can use these championships as a stepping stone towards being in a stronger position to challenge for podium positions at future championships on the track as well as the country."

The junior teams include trials winners Nick Goolab and Lilly Partridge and European junior silver medallist Charlotte Purdue.

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