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Interview with Alice

Sunday 4th December 2022

Alice Wright on her Euro Cross selection

I spoke with a very excited Alice Wright following her selection for the GB Under 20 European Cross Country team and after the delivery of her large parcel of GB kit which every GB team member receives. Pictures below.

The Trials

On her trials race in Liverpool, she said "Honestly I didn’t feel that great at Liverpool, I felt stronger at Milton Keynes a few weeks ago when I came 4th. I managed to get a fine start but found the first lap tough, I was able to pick it up on the second lap and come through although I wasn’t entirely sure of my position at that point, so was just trying to get past as many people as I could.  When I finished and was told I was 6th (behind 5th by a second) I was gutted as I had missed out on the automatic qualifying spots by so little. I assumed I wouldn’t make the team, so was absolutely over the moon when the team manager rang me on the Monday after, to tell me I had "

Training

I asked if much had changed in her training since moving up from the Phoenix Junior squad - "I think the main change in my training since moving to train with Jon Bigg and Dan Stepney has been consistency. I was really struggling with injuries over a period of about 3 years and seemed to be unable to break them. I’m still really injury prone now, but over the last year I’ve changed my training to do much less mileage and I rely on biking for a lot of my training. I do just 3 sessions and a long run a week, then the rest is on the bike. This took me quite a while to trust, and at first I found it hard to go into races with confidence when I felt I had done less training. But for me prioritising consistency over mileage has defiantly had a huge benefit.
Since joining Uni I’ve found training really difficult. I don’t have a group in London and so I commute home for weekends and with a busy course this is quite hard to juggle. Over the last few weeks on a Tuesday I’ve commuted across London to train with fellow Phoenix athlete Tara Bage, which I’ve found so much better than training alone. I’m still really loving training, but I think it will take a bit more time to get a good routine going at uni."

What's next ?

We then talked about what the future holds. " I haven’t really decided what to do over the rest of winter yet. I think i’ll see how Euros go, then decide over Christmas. I would like to give indoors a go as I was really happy with my track season and i’ve never raced indoors before so it would be a good experience. But also this XC season has gone much better than I expected so I would be keen to do some more. I think i’ll look into doing British Universities (BUCS) indoor or Cross Country this winter and maybe British indoor champs too.

That exciting Team GB kit

I got selected on the Monday after Liverpool. The team manager phoned me to tell me. I didn’t really believe her and asked her to text me as I knew I wouldn’t believe it once I put the phone down.
- Once I'd been selected I was emailed a link to order my Team GB kit. I had to choose one competition outfit, then you also get loads of extras like jackets, gloves, leggings etc It was really exciting to order and it all got delivered yesterday.  The best day of my life so far ! A small selection of the kit is pictured below.

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Thanks to Alice for taking time out of her hectic travelling and study life. We wish her the very best of luck in Turin on 11th December

In depth previews of the upcoming SPAR European Cross Country Championships will be published on the European Athletics website from Monday onwards and there will be comprehensive coverage of the championships across all social media channels. The event is usually streamed on the BBC website and Iplayer, so as soon as we know more we will update the Phoenix Twitter/Facebook/Instagram accounts.