ERME Valley Harriers’ Will Battershill made his Great Britain senior debut on Sunday at the European Cross Country Championships in Ireland.
Steeplechase specialist Battershill finished 33rd in a large high-class men’s race that was won by Olympic 1,500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
The Great Britain’s men’s team packed well with all six athletes finishing with 15 places and 25 seconds of each other.
Battershill finished next to his former Devon under-20 team-mate Jake Smith, who came 32nd.
Jack Rowe was Britain’s best finisher in 18th spot, with Olympian Andy Butchart second Brit in 23rd place. The British team finished sixth overall.
Meanwhile, City of Plymouth’s Emily Bee claimed a new long jump PB in her second indoor meeting of the season at the weekend.
Multi-eventer Bee leaped 5.70m to finish second at the YSU Collegiate Holiday Classic in Youngstown, USA.
That was 11cm further than Bee, who is in her second year at Youngtown University in America, had jumped before.
Bee had opened her season the week before when she jumped 1.60m in the high jump at YSU Icebreaker meeting, despite having a cast on her hand due to a thumb injury sustained a few days earlier.
Also at the weekend, City of Plymouth’s Tyler Johnson continued his good early season form at the Northern Athletics Indoor Open.
Johnson ran the 60m, 300m and 600m events as he builds up for the outdoor 400m season. He clocked 7.16 seconds for the 60m, 35.22 seconds for the 300m and 1:24.36 for the 600m.
Elsewhere, Tavistock Run Project’s Oliver Smart set a new road 5k PB of 14.39 minutes at the Podium 5K in Leicester.
Smart, who like Battershill is now training at the University of Birmingham, came sixth overall and first junior man at the popular event.
Tavistock AC’s Joe Beaton clocked the third fastest time at the Handicap 5k at Exeter at the weekend. He finished in 17.04 minutes. Team-mate Hannah Worth was the fifth fastest female in 20.46 minutes.