Britton cuts a colourful dash at Holyrood

With a splash of purple in her hair, Fionnuala Britton cut a new look for the new year and battled to an encouraging second place at the picturesque Holyrood Park for the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country on Saturday.

The Kilcoole athlete finished nine seconds behind Britain’s Gemma Steel (20:35) in 20:44 over the challenging 6km course but overturned France’s European champion Sophie Duarte who finished fourth in 20:57. Emelia Gorecka (Great Britain) was third in 20:51 with Sara Treacy finishing 22nd in 21:39.

“Every week seems to throw up something different,” said Britton. “I’ve ran three races since the Europeans and in all of them I’ve beaten someone who was ahead of me at some point. It would be nice to do it all in one day and win something.