Andy Vernon
ANDY Vernon warmed up for next month's Stubbington 10km with a storming run at the European Under-23 cross country championships in Italy.
The youngster, who will be running for Stubbington in January's Hampshire Road Race League fixture, placed 14th at San Giorgio su Legnano in Italy over an 8km course.
He was the leading member of the Great Britain sextet with a time of 23min 34sec, just 20 seconds behind the winner, Barnabas Bene of Hungary, thanks to a trademark fast finish when he picked up two places in the closing stages.
Bene won the junior men's race in Holland a year ago in which Vernon, whose first claim club is Aldershot, Farnham & District, placed second.
Andy helped Great Britain to fifth in the team rankings behind winners Russia. He said afterwards: "It was a lot harder than last year. It was fast right from the start. I felt like I had no energy but I kept on going."