MEDWAY & Maidstone Athletic Club runner Jenni Pereira has been selected to make her debut for Great Britain.

Pereira, 18, will wear the GB vest at the annual Junior Cross Country International in Lisbon on Sunday, January 25.

She has been picked for the four-strong ladies squad after impressing with her performances in the cross country season this winter.

After taking first place at the opening Reebok Challenge race at Falkirk in October, Pereira finished fourth in Birmingham and eighth at the European trials.

She won her fifth Kent Cross Country Championship in succession last weekend and took first place at the Inter-Counties Championship last year.

She was invited to join the Great Britain training squad and has since done enough to earn her place in the team.

Jan Pereira, Jenni’s mother and the coach of M&M’s ladies cross country team, said: “She was thrilled when she heard she had been picked. She just screamed and then burst into tears.

“She has represented England four times but this was a huge achievement for her. I’m chuffed to bits, too, and will be out in Lisbon with her coach Ron Mole to cheer her on.”

Jenni Pereira is studying for a sports science and geography degree at St Mary’s College in London, the UK Endurance Centre.