British distance running talent refuses to fly to Australia next month due to environmental concerns

Innes FitzGerald, Britains leading junior female endurance athlete, has written to UK Athletics to ask not to be considered for the team for the World Cross Country Championships in Australia. The reality of the travel fills me with deep concern, she says.

The 16-year-old from Devon placed fourth in the under-20 womens race at last months European Cross Country Championships against much older rivals. But she made headlines at the event after it emerged she had travelled by train from her home near Exeter in Devon to Turin in Italy because of a reluctance to fly.

This month she missed the British trial in Scotland for the World Cross with Megan Harris and Ed Bird winning the junior races and has ruled herself out of the event. Champions for Earth, an organisation for environmentally-friendly athletes, described it as a tortured decision to decline a spot on the team.

To have the opportunity to compete for Great Britain in Australia is a privilege, FitzGerald said. When I started running, the prospect of me competing in the World Cross Country Championships would have seemed merely a dream. However, the reality of the travel fills me with deep concern.

I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes and loved ones as a result. The least I can do is voice my solidarity with those suffering on the front line of climate breakdown. Coming to a decision has not been easy, however little compares to the grief I would feel taking the flight.

On her Euro Cross trip to Turin, she took an overnight coach to Lille before catching a train to Turin via Paris. Her family took folding bikes to ride the 20 minutes or so between stations in order to keep costs down. However she feels travel delays and disruption led to her having an underpar race.

My family is as environmentally minded as I am, she said. We live in a passive house on a small holding growing fruit and vegetables. So my dad was happy for us not to fly. Aviation is the most energy intensive activity we can do and explodes a persons carbon footprint. I dont want that on my conscience.

Champions for Earth added: The Exeter Harriers runner is a champion in more ways than one, winning impressively on the running track and in the world of environmental protection. Innes was crowned the 2022 Youth Champion For Earth for her commitment to pursuing her sporting goals as sustainably as possible.

Fitzgerald has only burst on the scene at the start of last year under the guidance of coach Gavin Pavey after previously running for fun. An A-level student in maths, physics and biology, she smashed the UK under-17 womens 3000m record with 8:59.67 in Belfast in July before enjoying runaway victories so far this winter in the Mini London Marathon and Euro Cross trials in Liverpool.

Her performances last summer could have led to her racing at the European Under-18 Championships in Jerusalem but, again, she ruled out doing it due to concern over flight emissions.

Champions for Earth said: She is looking for sponsors and supporters who can help her with the more expensive public transport, accommodation and eco-friendly kit that she requires. It is clear that Innes has the steely determination and focus, combined with the courage and clarity to face a reality quite different to athletes of previous generations.

As a young person with Olympic dreams growing up during a climate and ecological emergency, she is balancing the dream of one day becoming a champion of the world, with a determination to be a champion for earth.

Innes FitzGeralds letter to UKA this week

Dear British Athletics,

To have the opportunity to compete for Great Britain in Australia is a privilege. However, it is with great regret that I must decline this opportunity.

When I started running, the prospect of me competing in the World Cross Country Championships would have seemed merely a dream. However, the reality of the travel fills me with deep concern.

I was just nine when the COP21 Paris Climate agreement was signed. Now, eight years on, and global emissions have been steadily increasing, sending us on a path to climate catastrophe. Sir David King, former government chief scientific advisor, has said, What we do, I believe, in the next three to four years will determine the future of humanity. The science is clear. Turning this around is only possible through transformational change from collective and personal action.

I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes and loved ones as a result. The least I can do is voice my solidarity with those suffering on the front line of climate breakdown.

Coming to a decision has not been easy, however little compares to the grief I would feel taking the flight.

Kind regards,
Innes FitzGerald

Environmentally I didnt want to fly. I think it [the trip to Turin] took about 20 hours.

Innes Fitzgerald is just 16 but finished fourth in the U20 race at the European XC Champs

She also decided to take the train to Italy

One to watch in the future

@Jason_AW pic.twitter.com/QLFZQAFKzB

AW (@AthleticsWeekly) December 11, 2022

AW speaks exclusively to four British athletes who reveal their distressing experiences at the start of the Valencia 10km

The last thing youd expect as an athlete going to a race is to fear for your own safety.

That is what happened at the Valencia 10km on Sunday (Jan 15). As soon as the gun went off at the event a World Athletics labelled road race athletes attention quickly turned to the wellbeing of themselves and others around them rather than the personal bests they were striving for.

Four British athletes have now described their experience of the event to AW and said that there was a general consensus of panic among the packed pens before the beginning of the race, to elite women screaming on the floor as they were trampled on by helpless runners who fell like skittles.

Only one of the four British runners that spoke to AW completed the race and all of them have various degrees of marks, from small scratches to swollen and bruised knees.

These are athletes who are not at a world elite level and largely funded their own trip, including flights and accommodation, to one of the fastest 10km races in the world. The aim was obvious. To record a time in Valencia that could lead to getting a standard to qualify for future international championships.

Its a quick course. The mens world 10km record and second fastest time ever were both set in the Spanish city while half of the fastest 10 womens times in history over the distance were recorded on the route.

Theres a reason why the Valencia 10km set the entry limit for the race at 12,000. Its popular. A total of 91 Brits made the trip to Spain and quite a few, including Samantha Harrison, achieved personal bests.

However, many did not finish and dreams were dashed. Others did but it was out of pride more than striving for perfection.

An inevitability from the race build-up

Elle Twentyman, 28, went to Valencia to improve her 10km personal best of 33:30. The 2021 Brighton Marathon 10km winner was hoping to start off 2023 with a bang and forget about the experience of her last race over the distance, the Corrida Pedestre Internationale de Houilles on December 30.

The French event, which had a strict entry standard of sub-44 minutes for women and sub-37 minutes for men, had a giant tree just metres from the start line obscuring athletes. Such an object in close proximity to hundreds of runners made it impossible for some not to fall and Twentyman ended up on the floor.

Bravo à Aurelie Canu qui améliore son record de 6 secondes sur 10km malgré une chute dès le départ !
Un vrai chamboule tout le départ de la Corrida de Houilles pic.twitter.com/8Mb5g5WzGn

Long Run Crew (@Longruncrew) December 19, 2022

She hit her head and told AW that the race organiser got in touch to ask whether shed been involved in the incident.

Such vivid memories came back to Twentyman as she was preparing to start the Valencia 10km. Pinned together like sardines, athletes struggled to move either their hands or legs as they waited anxiously for the event to begin.

Initially, they had separate areas. So about 20m for the elites and 50m for the sub-elites and then separate pens going back for sub-31, sub-33 and sub-35 for example, Twentyman recalls.

Theoretically, it worked but the men in the sub-elite pen were so eager to get forward to the next pen ahead of them then they were pushing up against the tape. 

I dont want to sound dramatic but because it happened to me before, I almost felt like I was going to have a panic attack as I was completely trapped. I had nowhere to move my legs or arms and this guy was pushing up behind me.

Even at that point there were men still trying to get in front of you and although there was no space they wanted to push in front of me. That pressure kept coming from behind but we were then pushed backwards.

If you dont have space to push your legs up, youre going to go into the person in front of you which causes them to trip. I felt it [the impending crush] was unavoidable.

In among the thousands of runners about to take on the Valencia 10km was Sarah Astin, 30, who finished 16th representing the Isle of Man in the 5000m at last years Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Like most of the athletes, she was expecting a fast time but attention soon turned to the crowd around her instead of the race itself. Due to one of the athletes on the England team pulling out, Astin was promoted to the world elite pen. As a runner with a 10km best of 33:17, she thought it was strange that she was placed in front of elite men who could run over two minutes quicker than her.

That scared me a little bit beforehand anyway and I was slightly confused why I would start in front of the elite men, she says. I didnt want to do that. Id never been on a start line like that. Everyone was scared and it wasnt great.

On a start line you usually have your feet separated and ready to go but my feet were touching and we were literally waddling. They wanted to get going at 9.30am. I didnt expect them to start.

Another one of the British athletes in the mix was Dan Studley, 31, who won the 2019 Windsor Half Marathon and competed in the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships.

Like everyone else, he couldnt move. I was three or four rows back and I could barely breathe on the start line, he tells AW. You couldnt move to press your watch and I was completely crushed. Then three steps later when the race kicked off there were bodies all over the floor.

There was no personal space. You were just stood with your feet together and arms by your side. When youre trying to get a personal best in the 10km, you want to be ready and set. Its stupid really.

The elite athletes werent protected. I appreciate there were a lot of them and it was a pretty unique race. The race director was hoping for a 100 sub-30 runners. If those were safeguarded at the front and given a few metres I think the situation wouldve been fine.

The final British athlete that we spoke to was Josh Lunn. He, alongside Twentyman, Astin and Studley, all corroborate that while the athletes were split into certain pens based on their ability before the start of the race, the tape separating the pens either broke or was left unmanned and athletes poured forward into the next pen. One after the other.

At the front the world elite, including world 10km record-holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw, 23, were stretching out ahead of the big race. Just before the gun went off, as you can see on the Valencia 10km stream, the world elite men were pushed back behind the tape which marked the start line.

The momentum of those athletes getting moved combined with athletes from pens further back breaking through the tapes separating each section, meant runners, roughly 10m back from the start line, saw any space around them evaporate.

There were two guys with some tape and there was one athlete who wanted to go under the tape when the two men were there, Lunn says. Probably five minutes before the start they moved away and one of the athletes jumped underneath the tape. 

That set a whole chain reaction off where everyone kind of panicked and they followed. So youve got all of the guys in the second pen at the front of the first pen. I remember seeing Sarah [Astin] and Lucy [Reid] who turned around and went oh my god, whats happening. 

You had to go forward as everyone was pushing from behind. So we ended up at the front of the start line. I dont know how many people were in that first pen but they had pushed all of those people to the front and there wasnt any space.

Studleys experience of runners getting into pens that didnt match their vest number is similar. People did what they wanted, he adds. They were jumping under the tape. It wouldve been very easy to be recreational runner and be on the front row with world record-holders. It was too easy to get somewhere you shouldnt have been. 

I was behind some tape, waiting about 10m behind the start line and they just poured forward. The world elites then had to come back on the start line. My girlfriend was a couple of boxes back and she said they lifted all the tape and then everyone darted forward. So those waves just sort of disappeared and everyone just crushed forward.

The gun goes off and carnage ensues 

At 9.30am the race began and thousands of runners leapt out of their position. Success stories followed. The most notable performance from the event was Yehualaw giving her own world 10km record a fright. The Ethiopian clocked 29:19, missing the illustrious mark by just five seconds.

Behind the first few rows of runners was a different story though. Given the close proximity of the athletes it only took one to fall to create a cacophony of chaos.

Yalemzerf Yehualaw narrowly misses her world 10km record in Valencia and Sam Harrison goes No.4 on UK all-time rankings, but start line stampede dominates social media as runners go down like skittles in mass pile-up. https://t.co/a9g4nMGTk8

AW (@AthleticsWeekly) January 15, 2023

All four British athletes told AW that they only took between three and four steps before falling into the bodies that had already hit the ground in front of them.

As I tried to get up I immediately got pushed back onto the ground and that happened around six or seven times, reflects Lunn. The worst thing was that there was a girl on the floor next to me was screaming. I genuinely felt like I was being crushed. Thats when I got worried as I didnt know when it would stop and I couldnt get up. That was not great. 

Those thoughts [asphyxiation] went through my head. It happens very quickly. I didnt see the other side of the road but I definitely knew there were one or two people below me and three of four people on top of me. 

I dont think my breathing was any different to normal but I was just sort of panicking. Straight after it didnt feel any different and I was just thinking Id lost a lot of time and my mind was on the racing.

Valencia 10k, on Instagram, stated: According to our reports, no one suffered serious injuries. Some runners suffered bruises and one elite Brazilian athlete a dislocated shoulder.

For Twentyman, the crush was déjà vu from her last 10km race back in Paris.

Scènes surréalistes au départ du @10KValencia ce matin ! pic.twitter.com/4D9i6JaKA6

RUNIX (@RUN_IX) January 15, 2023

The falling down is one thing and the initial oh my god that hurt but then the scary part is that you just cant get back up as you had hundreds of people that keep running over the top of you, she adds. They just stand on you, run on you and push you back down.

I didnt really realise how much my back and back hurt from it after I tried to lie down and thought this rally hurts. My first thought was oh no not again. I was thinking what was I doing wrong? and in a way found it a relief to watch the video and that it was nothing to do with me. You dont really process it at the time.

Studley told AW he had raced for over 20 years and this was the first time in his life he failed to finish. Battered and bruised, he got up to find his race bib had been ripped off his running vest.

Studley, Lunn and Twentyman all recount how they spent between 20-30 seconds on the floor and tried and failed to get up nearly half a dozen times.

I caught up with Sam [Harrison] but my back started really aching and my back and front numbers got ripped off, he says. All my adrenaline drained when I started moving I was so flat. I used all my energy trying to get up.

Im surprised [no one was critically injured]. The way I was getting crushed on the floor, it would have only needed one runner to stamp on my head instead of my back to create a potentially very serious incident.

If that [crush] happened in the UK then the race director and the organisation would face serious ramifications.

Astin however was more fortunate and escaped the melee with just a few scratches. She however pulled out of the race around the 6km mark.

I was just sprinting and thinking get me out go here. As I started in front of these fast guys everyone was still flying past me because I started in the completely wrong part of the race, she recalls. I understand the girls aiming for world records but a lot of girls didnt want to be there and we were running blind. 

I was actually sick the day before and probably shouldnt have started the race but I was fine on the morning. I genuinely think I got further in the race than I wouldve done because of the adrenaline!

Lessons to be learnt

The key question is how do you help prevent a situation like this from occurring again?

While all four athletes suffered similarly distressing experiences at the start of the Valencia 10k they each have slightly different solutions on how to mitigate such events in the future. All ideas which seem sensible.

We needed more segregation between the waves, Lunn says. If you had a bit more space or people starting on the other side of the road I think you wouldve been fine.

If those two men hadnt moved and held everybody back then the risk wouldve been lower. The other thing that I found is that because you had so many high level people was that when you mix in them in it can be quite dangerous.

Astin, who helps organise races outside of her running, even suggests that the race couldve been stopped and restarted by marshals with radios 200m away from the line but is sympathetic with organisers who wouldnt have known how to react to such an incident.

I know there are 12,000 people on the start line but you couldve got everyone back if you started 10 or 15 minutes later, she adds. They couldve even had a team of people 100m to 200m down the route on the radio just crossing the road and saying to the runners that they have to stop because they need to restart the race.

Twentyman, who finished the race in 33:30, will hope that her next 10km is not as rough as her last couple. Recharging the batteries is now on the agenda but says walking is painful and going down the stairs is difficult. Twentyman hopes that the next Valencia 10k includes a wider start line.

When approached for comment, World Athletics said: The safety of runners participating in World Athletics Label races is our utmost priority.

We will liaise with the race organisers to assess the incident and discuss the safeguards they will put in place to prevent any such incidents in the future.

In their statement on Instagram, Valencia 10k add: We apologise for any inconvenience this incident may have caused to all involved. The safety of the participants is most important.

The Organisation had arranged a thoroughly distributed exit so that runners could be placed according to their intended marks in the enrollment process.

Nevertheless, it didnt all go well. Due to the density of runners, we absolutely understand that we need to step up the improvement measures again at this point. We will study from now on possible changes in the exit for the welfare and safety of riders, which is our utmost interest.

After this incident, the race went on with total normality with about 10,000 participants reaching the finish line.

Olympic finalist and Commonwealth silver medallist failed out-of-competition test for EPO but disputes the finding

Peter Bol, the Australian 800m record-holder who placed fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for EPO, although the 28-year-old says he is totally shocked by the news.

Bol, who finished runner-up in the Commonwealth Games 800m last summer, failed an out-of-competition test in October last year.

It is critically important to convey with the strongest conviction that I am innocent and have not taken this substance as I am accused, he said. I ask that everyone in Australia believe me and let the process play out.

He added: To be clear, I have never in my life purchased, researched, possessed, administered or used synthetic EPO or any other prohibited substance, he said. I voluntarily turned over my laptop, iPad and phone to Sport Integrity Australia to prove this. Above all, I remain hopeful that the process will exonerate me.

Bols national record is 1:44.00, which he set in Paris last year, and in 2021 he became the first Australian to reach an 800m final at the Olympics since 1968.

He was born in Sudan but fled the civil war there as a child and moved to Australia, settling in Perth and completing a degree in construction management.

Bol will now wait for the results of his B sample.

At last years Commonwealth Games he finished just ahead of English duo Ben Pattison and Jamie Webb as Wyclife Kinyamal of Kenya took victory.

Athletics Australia CEO Peter Bromley said: There are procedural fairness and investigative consideration that constrain how much we can say, and at this point it would be inappropriate for Athletics Australia or anyone else to speculate about the specific details or pre-empt any outcome.

However what we can say is that learning about this adverse analytical finding was both extremely concerning and completely out of the blue, and we will support Sport Integrity Australia who are leading the investigation into the matter.

As a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code and the Australian National Anti-Doping Policy, Athletics Australia condemns doping in sport, and we work hard to ensure athletics in Australia is a clean and fair sport for all athletes, including providing anti-doping education in partnership with Sport Integrity Australia.

We fully support the highly effective testing protocols that exist to ensure that anyone who breaches the anti-doping policy is caught and appropriately sanctioned.

Every athlete, coach and spectator wants and deserves a level playing field.

We appreciate the efforts of Sport Integrity Australia to conduct an extensive regime of testing during and out of competition to ensure our sport is fair and equitable at all times.

Our primary consideration right now is that the appropriate process is followed and that it is not undermined by inappropriate speculation.

The welfare of our athletes remains critical through this process, and we will continue to do all that is appropriate to ensure both Peter and other athletes, coaches and support staff are provided with the necessary support.

Our latest hill running round-up includes details of some early 2023 action on the fells

SOREEN STANBURY SPLASH, Keighley, January 15

British orienteering international Nathan Lawson won by over two minutes from Oli Smith.

Helen Smith was even more dominant win the womens race taking the title by close to five minutes.

Overall (6.8M/1200ft):
1 N Lawson (Dark Pk) 45:37
2 O Murphy (Ilkley) 47:59
3 R Sparkes (Bev) 48:18
4 J Wynne (Fellan) 50:49
5 M Malyon (Bail, M40) 51:22
6 A Lomas (Hyde P) 52:57

M50: J Green (Ilkley) 54:18

M60: N Hayhurst (Bowl) 60:52

M70: B Duncan (Bing) 88:04

U21: M Boocock (P&B) 53:14

TEAM: Ilkley 52

Women:
1 H Smith (Ribb) 56:37
2 R Pilling (P&B, W40) 61:34
3 N Jackson (N Leeds F, W40) 62:31
4 J Boocock (Bing) 62:48

W50: S Bevan 63:19

TEAM: Wharf 25

FEEL THE BURNS, Selkirk, January 15

Overall (21.4km/800m):
1 A Chepelin (Cthy) 84:18
2 E Lennon (Cthy) 92:17
3 T Callan (Wlands CC) 92:50
4 K Cooper (Cambus) 93:38
5 J Dunn (Cors) 93:51
6 G Malcolm (HBT) 94:45

M40: A Fallas (Cthy) 96:53

M50: A Macrae (Cthy) 1:41:09

M60: I Maxwell (Gala) 2:03:14

M70: B Howie (Cthy) 2:43:53

Women:
1 C MacDonald (Bella R) 1:49:12
2 M McClelland (HBT) 1:52:50
3 S Collins (Cors) 1:54:19
4 L Barraclough (Cthy) 2:03:03

W40: N Duncan (Cthy) 2:10:53

W50: M Hetherington (Cthy) 2:11:57

W60: H Ritchie (Fife) 2:21:48

CANNOCK CHASE TRIG POINTS, Brocton, January 8

Overall (33km/1650m):
1 D Connolly (Mercia) 94:36
2 L Gratton (Ruge) 95:27
3 H Davies (Mercia) 1:42:01
4 S Morgan (Chase, M40) 1:51:13
5 L Clayburn (Dark Pk) 1:53:22

M50: G Stubbs (Lich) 2:16:37

M60: A Burt (Chase) 2:30:13

M70: K Uzzell (Stone MM) 2:59:00

Women:
1 F Vickers (Bir, W40) 2:03:06
2 K Butler (Stoke) 2:11:07
3 E Lee (Mercia) 2:11:13

W50: J Pattyson 2:23:27

W60: A Stanley (Canock) 2:43:17

TRIGGER, Marsden to Edale, January 8

Overall (33km/1650m):
1 J Oldfield (Mat) 3:16:30
2 R MacD Oulds (Chorlton) 3:24:54
3 T Saville (Dark Pk) 3:25:12
4 J Eastwood (Slaith) 3:25:20
5 H Chatfield (Tring) 3:28:42

M40: W Boothman (Dark Pk) 3:50:44

M50: T Savage (Penn) 4:24:17

M60: C Webb 5:15:49

M70: K Taylor (Ross) 5:58:01

Women:
1 M Tibbot (Sadd) 4:08:25
2 S Willhoit (Mercia) 4:14:45
3 R Mather (Knave) 4:34:50

W50: N Spinks (Dark Pk) 4:44:25