Battling through tough conditions, Jacob led from the gun to the finish, running solo to cross the line in 49:21, with a lead of over two minutes over second place to secure his first European title.

Speaking on his win, Jacob said: “It was tough, but my legs felt surprisingly good. I didn’t know what to expect. It’s a great feeling. It was a good course. I don’t have the words right now, but it was a good day.”

Morven Goodrum claimed her gold in similarly dominant fashion, taking the lead from 2km onwards and holding an advantage of nearly 90 seconds at the two-thirds mark. She finished in 58 minutes, extending her lead to two and a half minutes by the line.

Not expecting to be in medal contention when she set off, particularly as this marked her senior GB&NI debut, Morven said: “I just thought I’d go for it as I felt good and had nothing to lose. I had no expectations as it’s my first championships. It’s all very new and I’m still taking it all in. I’m not sure what my next plans are, but I’m excited to see what I can do.”

Elsewhere in the women’s race, Scout Adkin (Ambleside AC, Angela Mudge) placed fifth in 1:03:13 after being in medal contention throughout. Kirsty Dickson (Carnethy Hill RC) finished 12th in 1:03:20, with Hannah Russell (Helm Hill Runners) 31st in 1:08:22. These results secured retention of the women’s team gold in the uphill race.

In the men’s race, alongside Adkin’s win, Finlay Grant (Dark Peak Fell Runners) placed 11th in 53:27, Matthew Knowles (Carnethy Hill RC, Sophie Dunnett) finished 23rd in 54:44, and Tom Spencer (Dark Peak Fell Runners) was 41st in 57:35. The team came within three points of a podium finish, placing fourth overall.

In the U20 races earlier in the morning, on a shorter course but still in challenging conditions, Nancy Corrie (Harmeny AC, Craig Stewart) took a top-five finish in 22:42. Hania Czebreszuk (Aberdeen AAC, Lewis Walker/Nicola Crawford) was the second Novuna GB&NI finisher in 19th (25:14), followed by Isla Pastor (Warriors Pentathlon & Athletics Club, Ronan Kearney) in 22nd (25:23) and Sophie Wood (City of Salisbury) in 38th (28:57). The team placed fifth overall.

Speaking after the race, Nancy said, “I was really happy to get top five, it was really good but tough with the conditions you couldn’t see how far you had to go. It was pretty tough, but I enjoyed it and the experience it gave. When they said the race would be in Slovenia, we weren’t expecting weather like this.”

In the U20 men’s race, Joel Gillan (Central AC) finished inside the top ten with ninth place in 20:07, with Kieran Hardie (Harmeny AC, Andy Ross) close behind in 14th (20:28). Lachlan Thomas (Ross County AC, Sophie Dunnett) placed 21st in 20:43 and Rowan Taylor (Lasswade AC, Kirk and Linda Smith) was 39th in 21:52, as the team narrowly missed out on a podium, finishing fourth.

After the race, speaking on behalf of the team, Joel said: “It was very brutal, steep from the very start, and you had to keep pushing all the way.”

The weekend of action continues tomorrow morning with the Trail Races, available to watch on the European Athletics Website and Youtube.