Scottish cross-country champion looks forward to senior global debut at the World Cross in Belgrade

Following her triumph in the Scottish National Cross Country Championships and securing third place at the Inter-Counties this year, Alice Goodall still cant believe she has been selected to represent Britain at the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade on March 30.

The 23-year-old is one of five senior women on the GB team ready to tackle 10km in the Serbian capital next weekend. The sizeable squad sees Abbie Donnelly, Jess Warner-Judd, Lauren McNeil and Niamh Brown completing the womens team.

In her first year as a senior woman, Goodall is trying to figure out which direction to go in as she has been exploring all three paths of cross country, track and mountain running.

Last year proved a successful yet busy year for the Scot as she won the European under-23 10,000m title (33:16.45) in Espoo, Finland (pictured above) as well as finishing 10th at the World Mountain Running Championships in Austria.

Growing up in Scotland, Goodall has developed a deep appreciation for the outdoors and Munros nearby, fuelling her passion for mountain running.

Having secured the silver medal at the FISU World University Cross Country Championships, the Edinburgh-based athlete has recently become the first UK signing for KIPRUN. The new partnership has provided her with a sense of relief as she tries to decide which path to follow.

AW chats exclusively to Goodall below:

What do you make of being selected to represent GB in the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade?

I am still so speechless about it all. It is my first official year as a senior so I am kind of blown away that I have even managed to make it on the team.

We have such a strong team and the group of girls who are a part of the senior womens team are just incredible. I am so excited to race alongside them and to especially be able to race against some athletes outside of Europe.

How will you approach the race in Belgrade?

My race tactic is always not to go out too hard which I think will be difficult considering who is on the starting line. I am just going to try and build throughout the race and, considering it is 10km, I will try to build up the pace between 5km and 6km and then just hope that my legs can stay on. Considering it is the World Cross, I imagine it is going to be quite a fast start.

What does a normal training week look like for you?

I dont think training should change much once you have been selected for World Cross. At the end of the day if you have made it on to the team then your training is clearly paying off, so its just sticking with the same plan and making sure I am focusing on recovery, sleeping and eating.

I dont work off of mileage, I work off of timings. Monday will be an easy run for 75 minutes as I will also have the gym in the morning so I wont focus on pace I just go for how it feels. Tuesday I have a slightly longer tempo run, which is anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour. The hour sessions are disgusting, I am not a fan of them at all.

Wednesday is the exact same as Monday. Thursday is a top-up session so I take it quite chilled, its normally got some tempo and I focus on my form with the strides. Friday is a rest day and then Saturday is normally intervals.

Sunday is a long run which is my favourite day of the week, I normally try and get on the trails if I can and that would be for anywhere between 90 minutes and two hours.

How do you reflect on winning the European under-23 10,000m title last year?

Its still something I think about and I am like did that really happen? It would have been an amazing experience regardless but coming away with the title made it such an incredible experience. My parents and grandparents came to watch and my gran couldnt watch most of the race because she had her hands over her eyes.

It was such a mental race, there was no point that I thought I had definitely got this win. The Italian girl behind me [Sara Nestola] was definitely good at sticking on my heels and using me as a wind blocker on that back straight but it is something that I will never forget.

What are your goals for the 2024 season ahead?

It is always hard when its your first year as a senior, the transition is always quite difficult to make but I definitely want to do a bit of track.

I will definitely be doing the Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs in May because 25 laps never goes so fast when youve got music, pints and someone dancing in lane one its a really fun experience. I would also love to get a 10,000m PB this season and I would love to break 32 minutes.

When it comes down to mountain running I want to do more later on in the summer and head out across the Europe trails. I do want to split my season a bit more than I did last year though because I was so burnt out by the end of it.

I definitely bit off a bit too much last season with trying to do mountain running and track at the same time. I definitely felt the effects of doing more than I was used to and now I have quite a few things in place to make sure that doesnt happen again. We are always so motivated to keep pushing ourselves and I definitely struggling at just sitting still.

If you had to choose between track, mountain running or cross country which would it be?

Im really loving cross country because I think its where you get that team aspect more than anything else. That being said, running on the track is so much fun because you feel like you are floating, and the European mountain running scene is also very cool.

I will have to say cross country but if you asked me the same question at a different point in the season it will probably be whatever I am focusing on then.

How was it to be KIPRUNs first UK signing and how has that helped you as an athlete so far?

After my under-23 European title it was a very weird time because I had a load of people speaking to me and I didnt really know what was going on, but with KIPRUN everything felt very nurturing. They wanted to make sure I had a nice transition into being a senior and they supported me through that.

I want to use these next few years to figure out what direction Im going in when it comes to track, mountains or cross country. I would never say never to focusing on one more than the other but I also might decide to do one for a few years and then change, and KIPRUN have never put any pressure on that.

Its also so nice to have Abbie Donnelly as part of the team. It is nice to be one of their first athletes because they are always curious to hear what you have to say about the products and they will make the changed because we are the ones that are using them at the end of the day.