Monica masters Dublin

Williamson, who finished 23rd overall, also led her country to team gold, with England finishing first, second and third in the W50 event.

In windy and muddy conditions at Santry Park in Dublin, Williamson ran the perfect race over the undulating 6k course, pulling away from the second-placed athlete in the final kilometre to win by ten seconds in a time of 23min 55sec.

Having gone into the race with the goal of getting into the top three in the England team, the Radford Semele athlete was understandably delighted with her achievement.

“I knew I was fit and had trained really well, but I also knew some of the names I was competing against were faster than me on the road,” said Williamson.

“But conditions were muddy and quite arduous and that was in my favour.

“When I found out I had won, I was in shock, euphoric.”

The England call-up came on the back of a season which saw the 50-year-old win gold in the BMAF national 10k championships and finish first lady in her category in the Sydney City to Surf race, the largest road race in the world.