NATIONAL cross-country champion Lizzy Hall made her comeback from injury at the recent Herts county championships in Stevenage. The Stotfold athlete, who runs for Herts Phoenix, was the defending county champion coming into the event. Lizzy (pictured at t

NATIONAL cross-country champion Lizzy Hall made her comeback from injury at the recent Herts county championships in Stevenage.

The Stotfold athlete, who runs for Herts Phoenix, was the defending county champion coming into the event.

Lizzy (pictured at the race) finished fifth this time after a seven-month lay-off with a stress fracture in her foot.

The Great Britain international completed the 7,500m in a time of 29:41.

Incredibly, the 21-year-old raced the meet at Fairlands Valley in trainers because her injury prevented her from wearing spikes.

Hall was reasonably satisfied with her performance at the championships the previous Sunday.

She said: "I was pleased-ish with my performance.

"It was really to try and see how the injury reacted and touch wood there's been no problems.

"I wanted to start running again, so it was great to be involved.

"It was a bit of a nightmare doing it in trainers though; I couldn't really run over the muddy parts of the course."

Hall, a potential Olympian for Beijing next year, is now aiming to get back to full fitness for the summer track season.

She said: "At the moment I'm just going to concentrate on getting some miles under my belt in preparation for a season on the track. We'll have to wait and see how it goes from there."

The Brunel University student won the national cross-country title at the first attempt in Hampstead, London, last year, running the 8k course in 32:12.

She was also runner-up in the UK Inter-Counties Championships a few weeks later in Nottingham and then ran for Great Britain at the World Championships in Japan.

Hall also represented Great Britain in the 2006 World Universities Cross-Country Championships in Algeria.

On the track, the Herts Phoenix runner holds the British record for the senior women's 3,000m steeplechase.

She scraped past the benchmark of 9:48.57 set by Tina Brown of Coventry Godiva Harriers in 2005, at Woodside Stadium in Watford last year, clocking 9:48.51.

Herts Phoenix AC endurance coach Adrian Newman paid tribute to Hall.

He said: "It's very pleasing to see Lizzy back.

"She did really well. To run a cross-country in trainers is quite a feat.

"It's great news that she didn't have any problems with the injury.