Former Radley runner Hatti Dean was philsophical after finishing 49th in the senior women’s race at the World Cross Country Championships in Jordan.

And with the cross-country season now at an end, her attention will turn to the track after a short break.

Dean, who had targeted a top-40 finish, was second Brit across the line, but her team could manage only ninth on a dry, hard and dusty course in Amman.

The race was won by Florence Jebet Kiplagat, who also spearheaded the Kenyan team to gold.

But although missing out on her target, Dean was satisfied with her performance in conditions that were completely alien to the British team.

“The ground was quite tou-gh as it was a dirt track,” she said.

“There was also a really steep hill and the wind was against us for much of the course.

“I’m pleased on the whole, it was a decent run, but I could have done a bit better.

“My preparation wasn’t perfect as I had a couple of niggles, and I did suffer towards the end.

“After about 7km I was where I wanted to be, but I just ran out of steam in the last kilometre.

“Because we were running at altitude, that made it even tougher for the British team.

“Most of our preparation was in English conditions on vastly different courses, so I’m satisfied with my result, but I could have done much better.”

Dean begins track training in earnest next week when she jets out to Portugal for a period of warm-weather training.

With one eye on the World Championships in Berlin, Dean, who missed last year’s Olympic Games 3,000m steeplechase with a stress fracture of an ankle, admits she is now contemplating a change of event.

“I’m not sure about my plans for the summer yet.

“It will either be steeplechase or the 10,000m. “Because of my injuries, I’m thinking it would be more sensible to focus on flat races, but that would be a complete change for me.”

It represents a bit of a quandary for Dean.

She knows her best chance of competing at this year’s World Championships in Berlin, would be in the steeplechase, but is wary of the chance of impact injuries which ruled her out of the Beijing Games.

She said: “I want to go to Berlin. If I do focus on steeplechase, the worlds are within my reach.

“If I decide to go for the 10,000m, it will be a new event for me, and a big learning curve. I have to decide what is sensible long-term with the injuries that I’ve had.”