WOODFORD Green with Essex Ladies athlete Jess Sparke ran the race of her career to finish third at the European Cross Country Trials in Liverpool.

The 21-year-old stormed through the field of senior and under-23 runners at the weekend to be the third athlete to cross the line and win a place on the start line for the European Cross Country Championships in Dublin on December 13.

Meanwhile, the rest of the women’s squad took a major step towards clinching their first London City Runner Metropolitan CC League title at Wormwood Scrubs on Saturday.

With Linda Jackson the first of six women in the top 21 the team now has a large 103-point cushion at the top of the league.

The team went into the meet with just a 25-point lead over Highgate, but they went about extending that lead with Jackson coming home in fourth, but first in the W40 category.

The reliable Kat Gundersen managed another top ten finish, crossing the line in ninth, while second W40 runner was Bernie Pritchett.

Diana Kennedy (16th) delivered another good performance and just pipped Rachel Lund (17th), who enjoyed her highest-ever league finish. And the scoring six was closed by Maggie Powell (21st).

Elsewhere, Woodford men’s team were led home by Hywel Care in third at the Scrubs, having returned home from a training stint in Kenya.

Dan Agustus finished in eighth, while a disappointed Bertie Powell was 13th. Tom Phillips, up from Cardiff University for the weekend, worked his way through to a useful 18th.

Craig Berg was pipped by team-mate Omar Mansour to 25th place.

In the under-13 girls’ race Woodford’s sole representative Amelia Barrett performed brilliantly to finish second, while in the boys’ race Daniel Rowden had a fine run to place sixth. Liam Blaikie was fourth in the U15/17 race and Claudia Conway placed ninth in the girls’ race.