Axford is used to the camaraderie of group sport, however thinks there’s a false impression that athletics is all the time a lonely, particular person pursuit.
“We have now a group of six ladies who’re going out to compete [at the European Cross Country Championships in Antalya],” she stated.
“There’s a group end result on the finish of it as effectively, that’s one thing that I actually take pleasure in in regards to the sport and one thing I wasn’t anticipating.
“Everybody may be very supportive, everybody desires to see you succeed.”
But ladies’s middle-distance operating is experiencing a golden period within the UK, with Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson joined by Jemma Reekie and Bell in a uncommon British one-two-three on the high of the gap’s world efficiency lists.
Additional worldwide alternatives for Axford won’t come simple, however for now the stress is off as she dips her toe within the muddy fields of cross nation.
“It’s positively going to be a little bit of studying in addition to having fun with the second,” she stated.
“It’s only a actual alternative for me to see how I line up in opposition to a few of the finest in Europe.”
Axford will then chase qualifying instances for the European Indoor Championships in March, with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles a long-term hope, simply because it was in her earlier sport.
“I used to be fortunate to have been coached by [2016 Olympic hockey champion and former GB captain] Alex Danson once I performed hockey,” she stated.
“She is an unbelievable particular person and somebody I look as much as so much. Her values and integrity, you’ll be able to take into any sport.”
