A VETERAN runner has hurdled her way to a European record at an athletics event in France.

Joss Harwood, from Witton Park, near Bishop Auckland, competed in the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, in Clermont-Ferrand, on Friday, March 21.

Taking part in the women's indoor 60m hurdles category for 50 to 55-year-olds, she set a time of 9.62 seconds, beating the previous European record of 9.73 seconds set in 2006.

She came within milliseconds of claiming the World Record, set in 1997, of 9.38 seconds. Ms Harwood, a chartered planner for Eldon Financial Planning, in Bishop Auckland, turned 50 last year and immediately began planning to break the record.

"I've got a competitive streak running through me,"

she said. "I turned 50 in November and I looked at the records and thought I can get this'.

"I went on a six-month training period to prepare and in my first race I broke the British record."

That came in the British Masters Indoor Athletics Championships, at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre, in London, in February.

More than 3,400 people from all over the world take part in the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships.

She said: "It doesn't get any less tense when you're waiting to start the race, but as soon as the gun goes, you're off. I felt relieved to get the record, because I wanted to do it, but I was also delighted that I did do it, tinged with disappointment because I didn't get the world record."

Ms Harwood will try to beat the world record again next year and hopes to break some outdoor records in the meantime.