Clean Sweep for St Mary’s at BUCS Cross Country

Athletes from the Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) at St Mary’s University Twickenham won all three individual titles at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Cross Country Championships in Exeter on 2^nd February.  Alongside this, St Mary’s were the only university to win a medal in every team event, making it nine wins out of the last fourteen in the Men’s Long Race.   

In the Women’s Race, Danish Olympian and EPACC Athlete Anna-Emilie Møller completed the 6.2km course in 22:33.0, 11 seconds ahead of second place. She was joined in the top ten by Louise Small, as the St Mary’s team won the Bronze medal.

Elsewhere in the Men’s Long Race, High Performance Scholar Emile Cairess won the Gold medal running the 10.3km in 31:13.5 and contributing to St Mary’s team Gold, being joined in the top ten by fellow Scholars Petros Surafel in seventh and Luke Prior in ninth, with Ellis Cross only 14 seconds behind in thirteenth.

The Men’s Short Race also saw success for EPACC with Abdulquani Sharif winning the race in 25:51.7, almost 12 seconds ahead of second place. The team came second, with Callum Charleston finishing in sixth, Christ Law in ninth and Samuel Johnson in tenth.

Speaking of the results, Head of Sport at St Mary’s Andrew Reid-Smith said, “The BUCS Cross Country Championships is a hard fought event and this year was no exception. The Championship sees the very best endurance running universities competing against each other, and it was wonderful to see St Mary’s athletes continuing their tradition of success.”