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| The 2004 SPAR European Cross Country champion Hayley Yelling of Great Britain announced her retirement after Sunday's race in Brussels. |
Former SPAR European cross-country champion Hayley Yelling has retired from competitive sports following Sunday's European Cross Country Championships in Brussels.
The 34-year-old schoolteacher, who won the title in 2004, finished 19th in her final race on Sunday.
'I turn 35 in January and I could go on and on,' said Yelling, who has never competed at the Olympic Games.
'But I don't want to be just making teams, I want to be going to championships and doing well.'
The 34-year-old has represented Britain at every World Cross-Country Championship since 2000 and also achieved national honours on the track at Commonwealth, European and the world level.
Her biggest disappointment is that she could never managed to qualify for the Olympic Games, despite coming close on several occasions in 10,000 metres.
'I missed Sydney by 1.27 seconds, Athens by 0.14 seconds and Beijing by about four seconds,' she said. 'I can't go on until 2012. I'll be too old by then.
'After not making it to the Olympics in the summer, I'd made my mind up to go then. But I talked it over with my coach and decided to go one last time for the Europeans. But to be honest, my heart has not been in training as much and when you start to feel that way, it is time to go.'
The Windsor athlete, who is the sister-in-law of Olympic marathon runner Liz Yelling, enjoyed her finest moment in 2004 when she won the European cross-country title in Heringsdorf, Germany. She plans to stay involved in the sport as a coach.