Naomi Lang brought home Short Trail bronze for the Novuna GB&NI team at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.

It was a cold start at 8am for the 45km Short Trail route with 3500 metres of elevation, but the pace was hot, with athletes in both the men’s and women’s races pushing for early leads.

Lang (Carnethy, Lewis Walker), sat comfortably in 11^th at the start of the first climb, gradually worked her way into eighth by the top of La Moleta, but her descending abilities put her in second at the first checkpoint.

From that point on an almighty battle between Lang and Sara Alonso of Spain continued for the entirety of the race, with them no more than a minute apart at every checkpoint.

Before the final descent, it was just a 46-second difference, and there were just 120+ switchbacks on the trail between them and the finish.

The finish was even closer, but Alonso won their battle on her home Spanish mountains in 5:38:15 to Lang’s 5:38:54.

Tove Alexandersson won the women’s race, taking a three-minute lead by the top of the first climb and extending throughout to win in 5:04:20, with Sweden beating Spain to the team gold.

Emily Cowper-Coles (Rotherham) raced well throughout, having a strong second half that saw her finish in 44^th place in 6:29:34.

The men’s race

The Novuna GB&NI men’s team was led home by Ben Rothery (Ilkley, Sarah McCormack) in 27^th place, having been 68^th to the top of the first summit. The fell runner showed his descending skills and some world-class pacing to move through the field, taking another 4 spots on the final descent.

Bertie Houghton (Hallamshire, Lewis Moses) was next home in 51^st, followed by Grant Cunliffe (Hallamshire, Lewis Moses) in 61^st and Joe Wright (Carnethy, Sam Tosh) in 91^st with all three racing in their first World Championships for the team. Both Thomas Roach (Lewes AC) and Kris Jones (Swansea Harriers, Doug Stewart) had to stop before the finish.

As with the women’s, the competition level in the men’s race continues to grow year on year, and it is no surprise that two nations who call the Pyrenees home were the first two teams.

Spain took second, third and fourth position on the day, but Frederic Tranchard of France took a three-minute lead after 28km and held it until the line to take individual gold.