KENT athlete Charlotte Dale has her sights set on winning the European junior track 5,000m title after producing a superb run in the Entenmann’s Great Manchester Run on Monday.

The 19-year-old Invicta East Kent athlete was fifth in the 10km event running against some of the biggest names in the sport.

Dale, the European Junior cross-country champion, clocked 33 minutes 10 seconds and said she enjoyed running alongside such world-class opposition.

“I am happy with how the race went, particularly as I was running much of it on my own,” said Dale, who was running for the first time since shattering the UK junior 10,000m record in April.

“Running against some of the names I have only read about in the past has been a great experience.”

Dale, who is based at the UK Athletics Endurance High Performance Centre at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, hopes to join Paula Radcliffe at a training camp in France shortly.

The Manchester race was won in 31.50 by Berhane Adere, with fellow Ethiopian Derartu Tulu (31.53) second and Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan (32.00) third.