by Larry Eder
Gemma Steel and Emelia Goreka, starting line BUPA Great XC Challenge, January 2014, photo by Dan Vernon Photography for Nova international
Yesterday’s (November 29) British Athletics Cross Challenge offered fans a taste of what the long distance landscape of women’s running in the UK could look like over the next few years.
In a battle between the exuberance of youth and the strength of experience, it was Gemma Steel who prevailed to take victory at the European Cross country trials, but only after she had been given a fright by senior debutant Emelia Gorecka and several others at Sefton Park, Liverpool.
Amid a packed event that saw many of the country’s leading track stars dip their toes into the muddy challenge, it was Steel, the road and XC expert who triumphed. Having placed herself comfortably within the lead pack, as the likes of Gorecka, Steph Twell and Charlotte Purdue, took it in turns to take on the front position for most of the race, Steel went for it with 5 minutes and half a lap to go. Replicating the strength that she has been displaying in most of her recent races, the Charnwood AC athlete stretched away from her opponents and didn’t look back, taking victory by 11 seconds to win the event for the second consecutive year, leaving Gorecka, Rhonna Aukland and Lily Partridge to battle it out for the remaining places within the top three.
Ultimately it was Gorecka who won the battle from Aukland by three seconds, as her powerful gritty performance was rewarded with second place and the victory in the women’s under 23 race category, ensuring that her step up from the juniors went almost as well as could have been imagined.
While Steel’s margin of victory may have been significant on this occasion, it was five seconds less than when she beat Gorecka by on a far shorter course in Edinburgh last January, an indication that the youngster’s challenge is growing ever tighter. Her improvement since that race in Scotland has been huge, since then she has gone on to compete in both the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games, this summer, finishing in the top ten on both occasions. Her challenge now must be to try and keep shortening that gap between her and Steel before the end of the season and with her experiences from the summer and a junior career glittered with success to hand, confidence will ultimately be on her side.
The Aldershot and Farnham district athlete’s immediate focus will now be on the Rila Mountains, Bulgaria where she will amazingly be making her 5th appearance in the European Cross Country Championships at the age of just 20. After collecting a medal on each of the four previous occasions when racing as a junior, including gold in 2013 and 2011, she will be hoping to make it first time lucky when she makes her bow in her new U-23 age group category in two weeks time.
As for Steel, who is currently Britain’s best distance runner, at least away from the track, her performance was further evidence that she may be ready to become Euro Cross queen herself. Having finished runner-up to France’s Sophie Duarte last year and taken bronze in 2011, the Charnwood athlete appears to be in the shape in her life and after two brilliant second places at the Great North and South runs earlier this Autumn and her success on Saturday, she must go into the championships as the favourite.
A victory there could prove vital in her journey towards making her marathon debut in London next April, where many expect her to shine, especially after her 68 minute half-marathon in Newcastle this September.
Whatever the outcome may be for both athletes in a fortnights time, it seems likely that although their rivalry is one that is growing on a race by race basis, they will be shouting for one another as they go for the same goal in their respective age-group categories.
