ADAM Hickey will look to draw on the confidence he gained from his fantastic run at the European Cross-Country Championships when he pulls on a Great Britain vest again tomorrow.

The Southend AC athlete is competing in the Great Edinburgh Cross-Country where the British team take on the USA and a combined European squad.

Hickey finished ninth and was the second Brit home at the European Cross Country-Championships in Bulgaria last month and he wants to show his form again tomorrow in an event that will be screened live on the BBC.

“I can’t wait for it,” said the 26-year-old. “I’ve done this race for the past three years. I was 15th last year and I feel a lot stronger than in previous years so it will be interesting to see what I can do.

“The Europeans has given me a lot more confidence going into this race. I feel like I should be among the top GB scorers now.”

Being one of the first Brits home was made a little easier this week with the news that Mo Farah has pulled out of the GB team as he is still suffering from the after affects of the flu.

“It would have been nice if Mo had been running but it does make things a little easier,” said Hickey who believes his form now is better than it was a month ago.

He earned the accolade of running the day’s world’s fastest parkrun last Saturday as he clocked 14m 41s around the Southend course.

“That was good,” he said. “I was only 12 seconds off my best and it was part of my morning session so I had a little rest and then did another effort afterwards.

“After returning from the Europeans I had a bit of a break, just doing a week of running to get back into it, but since then I have got a lot stronger in the sessions I have been doing in the woods and on the roads around Basildon. The times are getting quicker and that’s encouraging.”

Having competed in the race for the past three years, Hickey is all too familiar with the Edinburgh course and he’s hoping for similarly wild weather to those experienced by runners at the Essex Cross-Country Championships in Woodford last weekend to aid his cause.

“Edinburgh is a tough course but I’m hoping for horrible conditions to make it even tougher,” said Hickey. “The tougher the course the better for me and I was a bit gutted I couldn’t race the county championships because that looked pretty bad!”

Hickey missed the Essex Championships as he has been a bit more selective in his racing this winter.

After tomorrow’s race he will race in Cardiff the weekend after and then possibly only have one more race before the twin targets of the English Cross-Country Championships and UK Intercounties Championships in late February and March.

“I do miss the racing, it’s much better than training, but it’s all part of a bigger picture.”

Hickey’s race is live on BBC One tomorrow at 1.30pm.

* Canvey’s Jessica Judd, who turned 20 earlier this week, was due to also be running at the Great Edinburgh Cross this weekend but has opted to pull out.

The Loughborough University student was pencilled in to make her senior cross-country debut for Great Britain after winning a silver medal in the under-20 age group at the European Cross-Country Championships last month.

But she has opted to give the race a miss as she looks to build towards another successful summer on the track.

Basildon AC’s Gemma Kersey will be in Edinburgh, however, as she has been chosen to represent England in the international mixed relay which is over a 1km course.