WINCHESTER-born athlete Louise Damen has been selected for the Norwich Union European 10,000m Challenge which takes place in Greece next weekend.

That comes after an impressive senior debut in Switzerland in last week's World Cross-Country Championships where she finished the women's 8k event in 30th position (28.03).

The European 10,000m Challenge was established in 1998 in order to enable athletes who have peaked for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships to post a fast early season 10,000m time.

The first GB athlete home will be automatically selected for the IAAF World Championships in Paris on August 23-31 2003 providing they have achieved the IAAF A standard (Men - 27:49.00, Women - 31:45.00).

Damen, a 20-year-old Loughborough University student, runs for Bournemouth AC.

She finished third at the Reebok UK Inter-Counties Championships to secure her place in the GB team at the World Cross Country event last week.

Damen, the current English national junior title holder, set her 10,000m PB of 34:05.1 last year. She is only one of four women selected for the GB team.

Glynn Tromans, who recently won the Eastleigh 10k in a personal best time of 28.33 - the fastest time by a UK athlete over that distance in this country since 1996 - is one of three men in the GB team.

He won the Reebok UK Inter-Counties Championship in February and was 73rd in his seventh successive World Cross-Country event in Switzerland.

He set his track PB of 28:21.07 in 1999.