The biggest cross-country event of the university calendar kicked off on Saturday 3rd February on a cold and muddy day. Ten of our athletes braved this extreme BUCS cross-country hosted by the University of Leeds. The races comprised of a short and long course for men and women. This cross-country to sum it up was incredibly muddy with towering hills and hay bales. Eight of our ten athletes were making their BUCS debuts and the excitement on the bus over was palpable.
The women's short course was up first, with Charlotte Thornton, Georgia Trimnell and Francesca Caine representing. All of the girls made a huge effort to get round this challenging course covering 6560m, showing some real grit, determination and potential for a very impressive season ahead. Then it was onto men's short course where a huge congratulations must be given to Sé Loughlin, who improved on the men's short course record by 32 places, by finishing 80th overall! Some brilliant efforts was equally made by Bryn Squires to get through the increasingly boggy 7950m course. Sadly, there were no athletes from Edge Hill contesting in the women's long course, but we hope next year there will be some challengers. At the muddiest point in the day it was time for the men to take to the long course they covered 9690m of knee deep mud at this point. There was tremendous efforts made to complete the course by Tom Collet and Josh Minihan alongside some a spectacularly theatrical performance by Sam Clark who dived into the mud on the final lap before tackling the hill over taking four people to complete the course!
Overall it was a great day despite the quantities of mud, though it was at least a true cross county race. We saw some tremendous efforts resulting in times all the athletes should be proud of. We couldn't of asked for a better group to represent everything the team stands for. Thank you all for taking time out to travel to Leeds, we couldn't be prouder of you all.
Written by Ellie Loweth.
Back row (L to R): S Loughlin, T Collet, B Squires, J Minihan, S Clark.
Front row (L to R): C Thornton, F Caine, G Trimnell.
Se Loughlin - Men's Short Course Record Holder.
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