Stunning Euro day for Kendal duo (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Stunning Euro day for Kendal duo

9:25am Friday 19th December 2008 in Sport By Gazette Sports

KENDAL AC's Sarah Tunstall enjoyed the highlight of her career so far at the weekend - a stunning silver medal-winning run at the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels.

Physiotherapist Tunstall, aged 22, led Great Britain home to the team title in the Women's Under-23 race.

Producing a spectacularly gritty and determined run, she finished only eight seconds adrift of Dutch favourite Susan Kuijken after moving into second place 2k out in the 6k race.

Tunstall, from Kirkby Stephen said on her return home: “The result hasn’t sunk in, I watched the race last night on video and it didn’t seem real.

“I was aiming for a top 15 finish but I knew that if everything went perfectly the medals would be up for grabs, and it did!”

Tunstall, who added a team gold to her solo silver, competed at the Championships along with her Coniston-born clubmate Gemma Miles, who collected a team silver when 34th in the Senior Women's race.

It was an unprecedented performance by British athletes at the ultra-competitive Champ-ionships as the squad captured a record haul of 12 medals.

Miles was disappointed with her 34th position in the Senior ranks. The former John Ruskin School pupil had suffered in the run-up to the race with chest problems. She never really got into her running on a course with too many twists and turns for her liking.

However, she did come away with her first international senior medal as the team stormed into second place.

“It was a great atmosphere,” said 28-year-old Gemma, “I know I wasn’t in top form but top-class events like this spur you on to want more. Being part of the best team in Europe is amazing. I’ve been fighting a cold so my main aim is to get well and train hard for the second half of the season."

Both girls will resume hard training over Christmas to be ready for international events in Antrim in Northern Ireland, and Edinburgh in the New Year.