AN ATHLETE from Marlow continues to go from strength to strength as she finished in the top five in a prestigious race in Northern Ireland last weekend.

Pippa Woolven, 23, represented England in the County Antrim International Cross Country event and was the first of three English athletes home.

This was a terrific result for Woolven and she is getting closer to the top girls with each race that goes by, as her memories of a stop-start 2016 have been banished. 

The race was once again dominated by the Kenyan athletes but Wycombe Phoenix Harrier, Woolven, performed very creditably in wet and muddy conditions.

It has been an excellent winter for Woolven as she also performed admirably at the European Cross Country Championship in Sardinia last month, winning the silver medal as part of her Great Britain team.

She finished 16th out of the 72 competitors in Chia and she was part of a team of six Great Britain athletes and the scores of the first four went towards the overall total and team GB came second and claimed a superb silver.