St. Mary’s and Birmingham share spoils at BUCS
Posted By Joe on February 5, 2012
Over 1000 student athletes competed over 3 races at the BUCS championships on Saturday in Cardiff, with Birmingham University taking both individual titles through Jonny Hay and Hannah Walker, whilst St. Mary’s took both team titles.
Birmingham’s Jonny Hay won the Men’s A race in s sprint finish from Manchester University’s Sean Connolly and Ashley Harrell of St. Mary’s. Hay had been in the lead group for the majority of the race as seven athletes broke away from the rest of the field early on. By midway through the third of four laps, the group at the front of the race had whittled down to four, with Hay, Connolly and Harrell joined by World Triathlon silver medallist Jonathan Brownlee of Leeds, who was pushing the pace on at this stage.
By the fourth and final lap, however, Harrell was at the front of a lead trio as Hay and Connelly joined him, with Brownlee dropping off the pace. Harrell seemed intent on dropping his two challengers before the final sprint, but could not manage it as the three entered the final stages together. Hay broke clear in the home straight to win in a sprint finish by three seconds from Connelly, with Harrell third. Brownlee, having pushed the pace early on, was caught in the last stretch by St. Mary’s second finisher, Ryan Saunders, as these two rounded out the top 5.
Speaking to Bucs.org.uk after the race, Hay said, “My coach, Mike Bull, had told me to sit on the leader and do the business at the end. I was pushed hard all the way and managed to hold on to finish it off.”
St. Mary’s won the team event, with Harrell and Saunders joined by Ross Murray in 9th and Joshua Grace in 10th to score just 26 points. They took the title from Birmingham, second with 38 points, and Loughborough coming home in third place well behind the leading two with 147 points.
As in the Men’s race, the Women’s race was also won by a Birmingham athlete as Hannah Walker, a representative for Great Britain at the European Cross Country in December, took the title. In a superb display of front running, Walker was never off the front, pushing the pace early on with teammate Pippa Woolven, as Manchester’s Jess Coulson followed close behind. After the first lap of three had been completed, the lead group was down to seven athletes, as St. Mary’s duo Louise Small and Leigh Lattimore joined the leading trio.
Midway through the second lap, the group was down to four as Walker piled on the pace with only Coulson, Small and Lattimore able to hang with her. On the final lap, however, Walker’s superiority began to show, as she pulled away from the other three with only Small making a serious bid to chase her down. Walker ran away to post a six second victory from Small, with Lattimore third a further five seconds down. Manchester’s Coulson followed home in fourth, with Edinburgh’s first counter Emily Stewart in fifth.
“I wanted to take it on and lead from the front,” Walker told Bucs.org.uk after the race, “It was a tough race with the ground hard and lumpy but it wasn’t actually as bad as I thought it might be. This is my second BUCS Cross Country and it is a really great event. It has been a good day for Birmingham.”
St. Mary’s won their second team event of the afternoon, taking the Women’s title with 20 points as Small and Lattimore were joined by Rachel Robinson (15th). Birmingham again finished second, with Walker joined by Woolven (8th) and Iona Lake (13th). Edinburgh edged out Loughborough for 3rd place with 43 points to 45.
St. Mary’s also won the Men’s B race, as their athletes filled the first 8 places, and finished 4 of the top 5 teams. Toby Loveridge beat teammates Daniel Woodgate and Rowan Axe to the title, as their gold medal winning team scored the minimum possible 10 points. Birmingham placed 3rd with 51 points to prevent St Mary’s from winning in a whitewash.
For full results from the BUCS Cross Country Championships click here.
Comments