Young Ross Athlete Vanessa Brann helped her team, the Gloucestershire Schools, to win the silver medal in the prestigious McCain UK Cross Country Challenge held in Cardiff on Sunday. Vanessa's individual place was 17th but she was the first Gloucestershire girl home.

A former pupil at JKHS, Vanessa now attends Hartpury College. She is only 17 but in competition she has moved up to the next age group to the under 20 and Senior women's races, running distances of between 6k and 7.5k. She has won the Gloucestershire Schools Cross Country Championship Senior Girls' title and is now first athlete in the Gloucestershire Schools Cross Country team, she has also been asked to represent the South West of England in competition.

Vanessa is at present ranked 9th in the UK for the 5 mile road race and in a recent 5 mile handicapped race she gained a new personal best for the distance of 32 minutes, cutting her previous best time by two minutes.

She has had a good start to this season running in the Gloucester Cross Country League where she finished 18th, and 28th. Each race had well over 150 athletes and she was competing against seniors and veterans. Vanessa also ran at Bath in the Gwent Cross Country League where she came in the top 10 in her age group.