Caroline Hoyte (Arena 80) has been selected to make her debut for Great Britain in the Eikden Road Relay Championships in Japan this month.

It follows her brilliant run in the National Road Relay Championships at Birmingham where she finished third in an opening leg which included several leading British runners.

It is a reward for the athlete who ran for the England cross country team at Roseclare in Belgium five years ago.

Since her previous peak in 1996/7, Caroline has got married to Phoenix Club middle-distance runner Kurt Hoyte and had a son.

But she returned to competitive athletics 12 months ago and has taken her return to full fitness steadily.

Caroline looks like establishing herself as a prospect for the Great Britain cross country team for the World Championships this season.

Many female distance runners have produced their best form after the birth of their first child and, at 31, Caroline is just the right age to launch a successful international middle-distance running career.

She said: "I feel very pleased to have been selected but since I heard the news I have had a stinking cold.

"I hope it will soon disappear as it has rather affected my training. I am pretty fit at the moment and it should not take me too long to throw this off and get down to serious preparation for my first trip to Japan.

"The race is held at Chida, not far from Tokyo. I am determined to do well."

Joining Caroline is Swansea's Hayley Tullett who lives at Woking and is a frequent visitor to Sussex races. She is coached by Mark Rowland, the Olympic steeplechase medallist from the county.

Birhan Dagne (Woodford Green), Andrea Witcombe (Parkside), Lucy Wright (Leeds) and Tar Krzywicki (Charnwood) complete the sextet.

Meanwhile, difficulties with venues has forced two changes for the Sussex Cross Country Championships.

Work at Bexhill Down has forced the county to switch the veterans and intermediate events to Pestalozzi Village, near Battle on December 1.

The main championships have been changed from the Thomas Bennett School, Crawley, to Stanmer Park, Brighton due to alteration in the school's caretaking arrangments.

Last year the championships were switched to Lancing after wet autumn left the school's grounds saturated.

Lynda Spencer, a former county athletics champion turned triathlete from Chichester, competes in the Phoenix Road Races tomorrow.The first race starts at noon.