St Mary’s Athletes Secure Medals at BUCS Championships

It was a successful weekend for athletes at St Mary’s University, Twickenham after competing at the 2015 British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Cross Country Championships in Brighton on 31st January. The annual event attracts universities from across Britain to compete in three championship races and 48 athletes from St Mary’s took part in the 2015 competition. The Women’s team achieved a Silver medal for the second year running, with a fantastic run from Sarah Astin in 2nd place, who also took Silver at the recent British Athletics Cross Challenge, closely followed by teammate Amy Griffiths in 3rd and Reeve Walcott-Nolan in 25th. Meanwhile in the Men’s A race 2014 champion Richard Goodman crossed the finish line in 4th place. Newcomer Matthew Dickinson in 20th, Michael Callegari, who is recovering from a back injury, in 29th and closely followed by Jacob Allen and Rowan Axe who secured 32nd and 33rd respectively. The fantastic performances saw the team secure an overall Silver medal. There were also strong performances in the Men’s B race with St Mary’s teams finishing in the top three spots and seven individual runners in the top ten. Ryan Driscol made a bid to win with 3km remaining and opened a 50m lead, but was overtaken by teammate Scott Halsted who took the top spot. Driscol held on for 2nd place with Jack Rowe finishing in 3rd. Whilst competing for their own universities, Emelia Gorecka and Johnny Hay, both athletes at St Mary’s Endurance, Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) and coached by Mick Woods secured the top positions in the Men’s and Women’s races St Mary’s has run an endurance programme since 2001, with London Marathon as the principle sponsor. EPACC was then formed in 2009 by Sport St Mary’s, again in partnership with the London Marathon, as an England Athletics Coach Development Centre. It provides a world-class endurance environment and several of Great Britain’s most talented distance runners work out of the centre, including Steph Twell, Andrew Osagie, Ross Murray, Charlotte Purdue, Charlie Grice and Scott Overall.