James Kingston, from Tonbridge Athletic Club, competed in Brussels for the Great Britain team, at the European Cross Country Championships, on Sunday. He was part of the six-man under 23 age group squad, racing over seven kilometres, on an extremely muddy course, at Parc Van Laeken. He had finished sixth in the trial at the end of November, but felt that he wasn’t at his best that day, so had ambitions of improving on that.
After a slightly conservative start, due to the conditions, Kingston was soon making good progress and at one stage was into the top twenty, in an extremely close race. He eventually finished 21st in 24.28, just eleven seconds away from a top ten placing. This made him third scorer for the GB team, behind Will Barnicoat and Matt Stonier, who finished first and third overall. The team scored 25 points to win by nine, from France, with Norway in third.
The 21-year-old, has another year in the age group, for the European Cross Country Championships, so has the opportunity to compete again next year. Kingston will be hoping to build further on this form, with his next race due in the New Year. In the meantime he will continue to train hard, covering regularly around 90 miles per week.
