Britton tops in Edinburgh

Athletics: Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton, running in the blue singlet of team Europe, continued her rich vein of form with a superb…

Athletics:Ireland's Fionnuala Britton, running in the blue singlet of team Europe, continued her rich vein of form with a superb performance in winning the 6K Great Edinburgh Cross Country race in a time of 20 minutes and 40 seconds; a full 16 seconds ahead of her closest pursuer, Adrienne Herzog. Mattie Suver was third.

Britton chose to front run as the double European champion had done in Budapest and by the halfway point held a three second lead over Britain’s European Under-23 European champion Jess Coulson. The Irish woman pulled away and could afford a late fall without compromising her winning effort. Compatriot Linda Byrne (21.06) finished an excellent sixth.

Britton told BBC Sport after the race: “I didn’t think the race would go like that, no one went with me so I had to push it on.”