GB & NI TEAM ALL SET FOR EUROPEAN RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2025

The first edition of the European Running Championships will take place in Brussels-Leuven from 12 to 13 April 2025. For the first time at a European Athletics Championship, the masses will join the elites on the start line.

A team of 13 athletes will represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland (GB&NI) at these championships across the marathon, half marathon and 10k events.

The championships will kick off with the half marathon on Saturday. Hannah Irwin (Gavin Pavey, Cambridge & Coleridge) will be the sole representative for the GB and NI team. Natasha Phillips (Vince Wilson, Dundee Hawkhill) and Ben Connor (Derby) have withdrawn since being selected for the half marathon.

Sunday morning will start with the 10k event, which will see Paris Olympic Triathlon medallist Beth Potter (Shaftesbury Barnet) wear the GB & NI vest again; her last outing on the track was in 2017 at the World Championships in London. She is one of six women who are looking to compete in Leuven.

Phoebe Anderson (Wayne Vinton, Herne Hill), the 2024 U23 European Cross Country Champion, will join her alongside Sarah Astin (Andrew Hobdell, Belgrave), who secured a personal best over this distance in Valencia at the start of the year.

After success at the Leeds leg of the UK Athletics Cross Challenge, Amelia Quirk (Mick Woods, Bracknell AC) will look to rep the GB vest in Belgium alongside the Welsh duo Verity Ockenden (Swansea) and Jenny Nesbitt (Dave Long, Pontypridd), who will make up the women’s team for this weekend.  

Nesbitt was initially selected for the half marathon earlier this year but has opted to compete in the 10k race instead.

In the men’s 10k event, Rory Leonard (Andy, Hobdell, Morpeth), who broke the men’s British 10k record earlier this year in Valencia, is one of four athletes selected for the men’s team. Alongside him is fellow 2024 European Cross Country team bronze medallist Ellis Cross (Andrew Hobdell, Aldershot, Farnham & District).

Alfie Manthorpe (John Wood, Hallamshire) and Charles Wheeler (MK Distance Project) both ran personal bests in Valencia at the start of the year and will be on the start line for the GB and NI team.

The marathon will begin shortly after the 10k, with George James (Rob Russell, Dorking & Mole Valley) and Georgina Schwiening (Cambridge Runners) opening their season. 

You can watch the action via the European Athletics media channel here.

The full team for GB & NI for the European Road Running Championships 2025;

GB & NI Team for 10k (selected in March 2025) 

Women

Pheobe Anderson (Wayne Vinton, Herne Hill)

Sarah Astin (Andrew Hobdell, Belgrave)

Jenny Nesbitt (Dave Long, Pontypridd)

Verity Ockenden (Chris Thompson, Swansea)

Beth Potter (Shaftesbury Barnet)

Amelia Quirk (Mick Woods, Bracknell AC)

Men

Ellis Cross (Andrew Hobdell, Aldershot, Farnham & District)

Rory Leonard (Andy Hobdell, Morpeth)

Alfie Manthorpe (John Wood, Hallamshire)

Charles Wheeler (MK Distance Project)

GB & NI Team for Half Marathon (selected February 2025)

Women

Hannah Irwin (Gavin Pavey, Cambridge & Coleridge)

GB & NI Team for Marathon (selected December 2024):

Women

Georgina Schwiening (Cambridge Runners)

Men

George James (Rob Russell, Dorking & Mole Valley)