Fionnuala Britton will go to the line tomorrow as gold medal favourite for the European Championship swomen’s 10,000m in Helsinki.

National half marathon champion Ava Hutchinson has achieved the Olympic 'A' standard for the marathon, becoming the latest Irish athlete to qualify for London 2012.

IRELAND has a rich tradition in cross-country running stretching back to the 1930s and Tim Smyth’s world dominance, through John Treacy’s back-to-back world titles in 1978 an 1979, Catherina McKiernan’s European title in 1994 and then Sonia O’Sullivan’s two world titles on successive days in Marrakech in 1998.

FIONNUALA BRITTON will line up as one of the medal favourites alongside Turkey’s Binniz Uslu and Portugal’s Ana Dulce Félix for the European cross-country championships in Velenje, Slovenia tomorrow.

Teenager Charlotte Purdue underlined her incredible potential with a runaway victory over vastly more experienced opponents in the SPAR Great Ireland run today.