UKA Cross Challenge: Hughes and Beattie Triumph in Liverpool
An exciting day of racing unfolded at Sefton Park for the UKA Cross Challenge, sponsored by SportsShoes.com, as Britain’s leading endurance athletes battled for selection for next month’s European Cross Country Championships in Portugal. 2025/11/23 17:53:05
A commanding performance from Cari hughes (cardiff) saw her go one better than her runner-up finish in 2024, securing victory in Liverpool and confirming her place for December’s european Cross Country Championships. The Welsh athlete was part of an early lead trio with Poppy Tank (City of Plymouth) and Izzy Fry (Newbury), before decisively going clear of Tank on the final turn to claim the senior women’s title.
Hughes saeid: “I am over the moon with that. I really didn’t know what to expect coming into the race. It has been a challenging two weeks leading up, as there were some issues my body wasn’t ready for, so to come here and take the win, I cannot believe it. I am so happy.”
in the senior men’s race, the Morpeth Harriers duo delivered a superb one-two.Scott Beattie produced a confident and controlled display, outkicking training partner Rory Leonard to take the Liverpool crown. Richard Slade (Chiltern), the reigning English National champion, crossed the line in third, followed by Jacob Cann (Western Tempo) in fourth.
leonard said: “Nothing worse than being beaten by your best mate! Buzzing for him. It was a bit pedestrian in the first half mile and thought I don’t race like this so I threw in a hard 400m, saw Scott coming and waved and then proceeded to go straight past me!”
After her breakthrough 2024 season, Megan Harris (Chelmsford) ran an extraordinary race to claim the U23 women’s title in 18:46 on a heavy and muddy course. Emily Parker (Poole AC) and Mia Waldmann (Reading AC) took second and third, respectively. India Barwell (Lincoln Wellington) secured the fourth automatic selection spot for the novuna GB & NI U23 team.
The U23 men’s race was controlled from the front as Matthew Ramsden (Blackburn) dominated the two-lap contest to seal victory and earn his first international vest.A tight battle for the remaining podium places saw Joel Doye (Woodford Green Essex Ladies) finish narrowly ahead of Sam Hodgson (Windsor Slough Eaton & Hounslow),with Finley Proffitt (Trafford) taking fourth.
In the U20 women’s race, Innes FitzGerald (exeter) carried on her fine