BUCS Cross Country: Sheffield

Graduation. Getting married. Running in BUCS Cross Country. Only one of these events has any significance to the true athlete, and with good reason. Last Saturday, over 50 runners from the Athletics and Cross Country and Triathlon and Road Cycling Clubs – and a sizeable contingent of fans – trekked up to Sheffield for the university athletics scene’s premier race. Featuring an impressive ditch, hills that left the Club’s token northerners weak at the knees, and more mud than our troops knew what to do with, Sheffield posed a daunting challenge.

First up: the Men’s A Race. Six of the finest athletes Warwick has to offer stepped up to the start line to take on the nation’s elite student runners, with Athletics president Tom Stock leading the Warwick Warriors home after tackling over 10km of gruelling cross country running. Rounding out the top four – those runners who score – were Jake Thomas, who’s got his sights set on the Scottish Nationals, Matt Raymond, whose name isn’t preceded by ‘big’ for nothing, and Scott “Scot” McKay, the Club’s resident angry Glaswegian.

Facebook: Warwick Athletics

Team score: 25^th out of 57 (Cov might have beaten us in this one, and they won’t shut up about it).

Next on the list, the Women’s Race. This race was the better part of 7.5km, and saw some very strong running from the nineteen Warwick girls who took part. First home for Warwick was Julia Bijl, who came a very respectable 114^th out of 621! Close on her heels was Women’s Cross Country Captain Sophia Tucker – truly an excellent way to round out a strong tenure at WUAXC. Rounding out the scoring team was Katy Warren. Katy didn’t let her track pedigree hamper her performance, with Captain Tucker describing her as the ‘dark horse’ of the day! Cracking running.

Team score: 27^th out of 59 (Cov – 49^th, but we won’t rub it in, much).

By this point in the day, the turf of Sheffield resembled a scene from World War One

Last, but by no means least, was the Men’s B Race. A rather more relaxed scene than the dog-eat-dog world of the A race, the start of the race was delayed by a streaker, who face-planted the mud and gave the waiting runners a good laugh. By this point in the day, the turf of Sheffield resembled a scene from World War One, but that didn’t stop Ben Silvester and Men’s Athletics Captain Omar Madbouli, two of the Club’s best sprinters, charging off the start line to lead the race for the better part of a minute! Having achieved eternal fame, the boys succumbed to their pursuers, and the scoring three were as follows: leading home the boys was BUCS Indoors 1500m silver medallist and Club demi-god James McCarthy; in his wake, Scott Jenkins, and, third out of the 29 Warwick runners who took part, Josh Snow. The lads followed up this great result with the Birmingham Cross-Country Division 2 title – now we’re looking forwards to varsity victory and the defence of our track medals!

Team score: 15^th out of 52 – Warwick’s best performance of the day!