KENDAL AC member Gemma Phillips recorded her highest-ever national placing when ninth in the 6k event at the National Reebok Cross Country Challenge Series in Cardiff.
Over a flat and fast course which did not suit her, the junior Great Britain international held her ground well and battled with the big names from the start.
Gemma, from Coniston, has run in top-class events this winter and was rewarded with a trip to Bahrain as a member of an International Select team, which won a relay event in the Middle East.
She also ran in the Durham International European Cross Country event, televised last month.
It is Gemma's first year testing herself in the senior age group, but the Birmingham University physiotherapy student returns to the junior age group for the Northern Championships at Blackburn, an event in which she has twice finished runner-up, and it is her final chance for the junior title.
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