Porter selected to U.S. team for race in Scotland

Sarah Porter of Hockinson was selected to the U.S. senior women’s team for the Bupa Great Edinburgh XCountry International Challenge on Jan. 7 in the Scottish capital’s Holyrood Park.

Teams from the United States, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and a select European team will compete in men’s and women’s junior and senior races. Each country competing in the International Team Challenge will consist of nine athletes per team (six on the junior teams) with the first six athletes per team (first four on the junior teams) scoring.

Races are 8 kilometers (5 miles) for men and 6 km (3.7 miles) for women. A total of 11 races will be run over various distances for the general public and elite runners.

There was no senior women’s race last year.

Porter, who now lives and trains in Blowing Rock, N.C., will be joined on the team by Jamie Cheever (Minneapolis), Katie DiCamillo (Providence, R.I.), Maggie Infeld (Washington, D.C.), Betzy Jimenez (Austin, Texas), Bethany Nickless (Santa Barbara, Calif.), Neely Spence (Shippensburg, Pa.), Laura Thweatt (Boulder, Colo.) and Alisha Williams (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

The elite races will mark the first time Olympic hopefuls will race in the United Kingdom during an Olympic year.

Event sponsor Bupa, commonly referred to with only the first letter capitalized, is the health care provider British United Provident Association.

For information, visit www.greatrun.org.