Here we experience World Cross through the lens of the social media mentions of KIMbia’s World Cross athletes Elliott Heath, Emily Infeld (pictured above, photo by LetsRun.com) and Ireland’s Fionnuala Britton… Read the full article

The big pre-race story of the 2013 World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz Poland was a tough course and wintery conditions, and when the dust — or, snow — settled the importance of both was borne out by the big post-race story: a team silver for the American senior men’s team. Elliott Heath placed 30th in the race, the fifth finisher for Team USA, and ahead of two-thirds of the what is widely considered the deepest field in any distance race on the planet. Meanwhile, Fionnuala Britton and Emily Infeld keyed strong placings for their respective teams, each of which finished just outside of the medals.

Matching her best finish at World Cross, Britton crossed the line in 14th place, leading the Irish team to a fifth place team finish. After grabbing team and individual gold at Euro Champs, Britton and Ireland reprised that form chart by being the top European representatives in Poland. Ireland scored seven points better than France and while the reigning two-time European champion was nine seconds ahead of Sophie Duarte, France’s top runner and the second European finisher in Poland.

In her first appearance at a World Championship, Infeld took a strong 21st and was the #2 finisher on a fourth-place American team, ahead of US runner-up Kim Conley and Deena Kastor, previously a medalist at this event.

In Antrim, Northern Ireland, Dublin’s Fionnuala Britton collected her third victory of the 2012-2013 cross country season. Britton was the defending champion from the 2012 edition of the race, and won this time by a comfortable 12-second margin. According to the IAAF, the Irishwoman was warmly greeted by the crowd prior a race in which she easily dispatched the competition, writing that “Britton led from the gun and held a 15-second lead over Britain’s Louise Damen at the end of the first of three main laps and had the luxury of being able to ease off slightly on the final circuit of Greenmount.”

Since 2009, Britton now has six victories in international cross country meetings with ten additional Top 5 finishes. She will look for her highest-ever finish at World Cross in Poland on March 24th, after finishing 16th in 2011.

A video from Antrim with race footage and a short post-run interview can be seen here, with an additional video available after the jump. Read the full article

Fionnuala Britton took a tumble early in the 2013 running of the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country International Challenge Race. But the defending champion from 2012 recovered and went on win in dominating fashion. Her 16-second final margin kept her current campaign on the same impressive track as last season, adding the Great Edinburgh repeat title to the repeat Euro Cross title she won in Hungary four weeks prior.

Facing a strong British team, along with perennial European challenger Ana Dulce Felix and a battery of Americans, the Dublin-based cross country star overcame a fall while exiting a creek early in the proceedings. Britton scored a 20-second victory last year on the same hilly course, but faced a more accomplished field this time around: Read the full article

On Sunday, Fionnuala Britton retained her European cross country crown on a snowy course outside Budapest, becoming the first woman in history to successfully defend the senior women’s title. Britton once again battled Ana Dulce Felix of Portugal — the European champion at 10,000m — and ground out a victory over the final four kilometers, notching a two-second victory.

KIMbia partner, Ian Chaney, described the developments, saying, “Fionnuala took the lead after 2km and persisted to surge and press the pace burning off those in the main group.” Naturalized Belgian Almensh Belete hung on the Dublin-based athlete, until late. “With two laps to go it was down to herself and the Belgium athlete, who dropped going into the last lap,” he said. “Felix the Portuguese then set chase for Fionnuala but it was to much. Great race in minus 7 conditions!”

Indeed, the weather was difficult as temperatures never went above “freezing” with frozen footing across the snow. But, like Britton, the rest of the Irish contingent took to the tundra-esque conditions and followed her in 8th, 20th, and 23rd Read the full article