Three NSW athletes selected for the World University Cross Country Championships

2 March 2022

Three NSW athletes selected for the World University Cross Country Championships

Three NSW athletes have been today announced by University Sport Australia and Athletics Australia in the seven-member UniRoos team to compete at the 22nd World University Cross Country Championships, to be held in Aveiro, Portugal on March 12.

NSW will be represented by Sydney University duo Emma Mahon (Ben St Lawrence) and Annabel White (Gary Howard) and Iona College student Ed Goddard (Gavin Burren).

The event has been a key pathway competition in the athletics journey of many Australian Olympians. In 2010, a 22-year-old Jessica Stenson (nee Trengove) placed 10th. She would go on to compete at two Olympics and is now the fourth fastest marathoner in Australian history. Over the decades since Australia first participated in 1986, they have sent eight future Olympians to compete - Steve Moneghetti, Shaun Creighton, Krishna Stanton, Natalie Harvey, Victoria Mitchell and Tokyo Olympians Liam Adams and Ellie Pashley.

The 2022 team is headlined by Ed Goddard who was fourth in the half-marathon at the 2019 World University Games in Napoli in Italy. Based in the US at Inoa College, Goddard, who was eighth in the last edition of the championships in 2018, has been in tremendous form this summer running a 2:15.13 debut marathon in Melbourne. He is joined by QLD University of Technology student Tim Vincent, Harry Norman (Melb Uni) and Harrison Bagley (Adelaide Uni).

NSW pair Annabel White, who was 15th at Zatopek in 2021, and teenager Emma Mahon are joined by Uni of Queensland student Samantha Phillips.

Australia have won many team medals and seven individual medals, including gold from Shaun Creighton (1992), Steve Moneghetti (1986) and Natalie Harvey (1996).

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David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW

Image: Annabel White (courtesy of David Tarbotton)