Garland shines in national cross country championships

Chichester’s Beth Garland had one of the best results of her career to finish a fine 35th out of nearly 1,000 of the country’s best runners in the English National Cross Country Championships in Nottingham.
Beth GarlandBeth Garland
Beth Garland

It is just over a year since the 24-year-old Leeds University medical student badly sprained an ankle in the Sussex championships in Bexhill when lying second.

After weeks of careful rehabilitation, Garland was able to post some good track times over 3000 and 5000m over the summer.

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Earlier this month 24th place in the British Universities Championships in Edinburgh showed Garland’s winter training has been paying off but this result at Nottingham is another step forward.

It is a good pointer to Garland regaining her excellent pre-injury form of two years ago when she placed a fine 23rd in the inter-counties when running for Sussex.

Not only has Garland been able to make inroads as a senior athlete, she has had to balance this with the demands of medical studies, akin to GB record holder Laura Muir who has successfully combined her veterinary work with the rigours of international competition.

In the same event, Jim Garland was on hand not only to lend support to his daughter but also to take part in the senior race, finishing just inside the top 1000 out of 1715 finishers, not a bad effort at all for an athlete well into his 50s.