ADAM Hickey admitted he had a nervous few days waiting to find out if he had made Great Britain’s squad for the European Cross-Country Championships.

The Southend AC star left the trials race frustrated last Saturday after not securing an automatic spot for the championships which are in Bulgaria next weekend.

But after a few days on edge, his nerves were relieved when he got the message that he had made the cut.

“It was stressful,” said Hickey. “I didn’t get much sleep for a couple of days. That was partly due to the not knowing and partly due to my little boy Leo keeping me up!

“I was frustrated after the trials because I would have liked to have been in the top four and got an automatic spot, but I ran as hard as I could. It was a really hard race and I’m glad, at the end of the day, it’s job done.”

Hickey, 26, finished eighth in the trial race in Liverpool, but he was the sixth senior man as two under-23 athletes finished ahead of them.

They were both selected for the under-23 squad for the championships in the Bulgarian city of Samokov, meaning Hickey was in pole position for the last available slot in the six-man team.

But it wasn’t quite as simple as that as the selectors considered each athlete’s form over the past couple of months before coming to their decision.

“I spoke to the team manager (Mick Woods) straight after the race because I didn’t have a clue where I had finished and that’s when I found out I was the sixth senior.

“The selectors then go away and look at athlete’s form over the past couple of months and I think that helped me get the spot.

“I ran well for England in Burgos (Spain) and the Great South Run and that helped I’m sure.”

This year’s European Cross-Country Championships will be Hickey’s second in as many years.

He finished 25th in last year’s race in Belgrade, helping the British squad to team bronze medals.

Hickey also represented Great Britain at the Great Edinburgh Cross in January and admits he is starting to feel at home among the country’s elite cross-country runners.

“I was a lot more relaxed going into the trials this year as I had been through it all before,” he said. “I have raced the top guys quite a bit now and am used it.”