KENT athlete Charlotte Dale is back on course to defend her European Junior Cross-Country title.

There were worries she would not be able to run in Edinburgh on December 14 after she was forced to withdraw from last week's European trials in Liverpool with a recurrence of a calf problem.

But in France on Sunday the 19-year-old Invicta East Kent athlete successfully came through the Dunkirk international cross-country meeting.

Dale, from Whitstable, finished a creditable 15th in the women's 6.75km race after clocking 22 minutes 25 seconds.

Kathy Butler (Windsor, Slough and Eton), finished fifth in 21.17, with English national junior champion Louise Damen (Bournemouth AC) 18th in 22.42.

Butler was the only European able to stick with the early pace set by Rahab Ndungu (Kenya), but eventually she was dropped on the last of four laps.

Burka Gelete (Ethiopia) won the race followed by Isabella Ochichi and her Kenyan team-mate Ndungu.