Wicklow athlete hoping for success in Edinburgh

Fionnuala Britton lines out for the Irish team in today's World Cross-Country championships in Edinburgh hoping to improve on her sterling 14th place finish at last year's event.

The Wicklow athlete was Ireland's sole competitor in Kenya 2007, and the cooler Scottish climate will hopefully spur her to greater feats this Sunday. This time around, Britton will be joined by five other Irish female athletes in the senior category in a bid to perhaps emulate the Irish ladies' third place team finish at the event in 2002.

One member of that 2002 team, Anne Keenan-Buckley - now the Irish Cross-Country team's manager – rates Britton highly and says that "obviously with Fionnuala on board, the women's team will be quite strong".

Britton also has big plans for the future and after the Edinburgh championships she will be immediately turning her attention to her specialist event for this year's Beijing Olympics – the 3,000 metre steeplechase.