Saturday 3rd Feb saw the cream of British student athletes assemble on the outskirts of Uxbridge for the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Cross Country Champs.
Two BRATs lined up in the ladies race of 6.5km with over seven hundred other starters, The two laps were already boggy and heavy going, but continual rain on the day meant the course very quickly got churned up and became even heavier going.
Anne Kenchington running for Manchester finished in an impressive 67th place. Anne has only just returned to training after a lengthy lay off and took the opportunity to compete in her last BUCS XC before heading into her finals for her Geography degree - good luck Anne.
Performance of the day went to Molly Browne running for Coventry who finished in a superb 20th with most of the top ten having international representations already under their belts. Molly is in the first year of her Ph.D. so plenty to look forward to in coming years.
The quality of the race this year was summed up by Athletics Weekly
"The women’s race was also a high-quality affair and possibly the best ever according to some observers."
"The high quality was illustrated by National and Inter-Counties winner and Commonwealth Games-bound Jess Judd finishing fifth."
The ladies race was won by Harriet Knowles-Jones running for Manchester.
The men's race was won by Alex Yee running for Leeds Beckett. Alex can be seen below taking a spill at the river crossing.
