KARL Billington endured a baptism of fire – almost literally – but emerged with great credit from his Great Britain debut at the Euro-pean Junior Championships at Tallinn in Estonia.

The 19-year old finished a gutsy ninth in a dramatic 10,000 metre final last Thursday after seeing his Great Britain team mate Paul Thompson carried away on a stretcher after being disorien-tated by the extreme heat. He collapsed while in second place and was taken to hospital, but was released the same evening. At the end Great Britain officials had to rush over to Billington with ice and water drenched towels as he lay on the track.

The Blackburn Harrier had gained the qualifying mark of 31:20 in his very first track race over the distance, a mild surprise even to his coach Arthur Almond, after a winter disrupted by calf and foot injuries.

Even then his selection was not assured as subsequently he struggled in the official trial over 5000m in Bedford when he suffered a twinge in his calf.

After a long wait his place was confirmed, and his parents David and Janet were able to go out to watch him.

He said that he was overwhelmed by the stadium and the large crowd, and it was underlined that it was the biggest race of his life when the athletes were introduced individually to the crowd.

He admitted that he was glad he was one of the last in line as he wouldn’t have known what to do if they had started with him.

They had arrived in the venue three hours earlier and had been swathed in cold wet towels the whole time, but he still needed to take on water from the first lap.

Karl settled into the second group, working with the other Brit, Scotsman Dave Vernon, and went through half way in just under 16 minutes, 50 seconds behind the leaders.

When the group upped the pace in the last mile and a half, he was unable to stay with the pace but still crossed the line in 32:52.33 while Vernon, who said that it was the hardest race he had ever run, was sixth in 32:13.05.

After one more race for his club in the Northern League, Billington is intending to finish his season early as he is tired and is taking a long time to recover from his races, and he is keeping his fingers crossed for an injury free winter.

There could be a lot more to come next year from Blackburn’s latest long distance star.