Briton will face London Marathon winner Tigist Tufa in Morrisons-sponsored half-marathon in September

Gemma Steel, the European cross country champion, will face Ethiopian distance star Tigist Tufa in the Morrisons Great North Run on Sunday September 13 and there’s a chance the race could act as a springboard to an autumn marathon debut for the Briton.

The 29-year-old Charnwood athlete finished runner-up in last year s Great North Run to two-time London Marathon winner Mary Keitany of Kenya in 68 minutes 13 seconds.

Only two British women have run faster over the 13.1-mile distance: world marathon record-holder Paula Radcliffe (65:40) and 1991 world 10,000m champion Liz McColgan-Nuttall (67:11), the wife of Steel s coach, John Nuttall.

In claiming second place in the prestigious IAAF Gold Label event in 2014, Steel also took some notable scalps, beating Ethiopia s reigning Olympic marathon champion Tiki Gelana and Kenyans Caroline Kilel, the 2014 Commonwealth marathon silver medallist, and two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat.

In Tufa, she will face a 28-year-old Ethiopian who beat Keitany by 18 seconds to win this year s Virgin Money London Marathon in 2:23:22 and who boasts PBs of 2:21:52 for the marathon and 70:03 for the half-marathon.

Steel, who won the Euro Cross title in Bulgaria in December, is used to mixing it with the best Ethiopians and Kenyans on the road, having finished runner-up to Ethiopia s Olympic 10,000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenya s African 10,000m bronze medallist Betsy Saina in the last two editions of the Morrisons Great Manchester Run.

It s something that s given me a lot of confidence,” the Loughborough-based Steel said. Not many British athletes can say they can mix it with the top Kenyans and Ethiopians on the road and it s not something I ever thought I d see myself doing.

There s the Kenyans and Ethiopians, and then there s me. It s a good position to be in.”

Steel s rising road running stock has been pointing her towards a future at the marathon and she is contemplating an autumn debut at the 26.2 miles distance.

Everyone says the marathon is what I should be aiming at but I am still wary,” she said. The marathon is a long way. It took me a few years to master the half marathon and the full marathon is a different animal altogether.”

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