Stirling cross country success

The BUCS Cross Country Championships, held in Stirling on Saturday 6 February, saw UBSport athletes return to Birmingham with three individual and two team silver medals.

In the Men’s A race, UBSport finished a brilliant second, and was the first team to finish with the maximum six athletes to take home the silver team medal. Losing out to only St. Mary’s but soundly defeating Loughborough.

Nick Goolab, second year Mathematics, ran the 11.1km course is 34 minutes and 58 seconds, coming in second place from 228 athletes to claim silver.

James Wilkinson, second year Sports and Exercise Sciences, bravely ignored a foot injury to finish in eighth place, while Ade Holliday, Sport and Exercise Science PhD, battled with a bad back and came in a courageous 18th. Josh Lilley, Biology PhD, Carl Smith, second year Sports and Exercise Sciences, and Sport, Physical Education and Coaching Science first year Dan Cliffe, all helped the team to win silver by finishing in 21st, 32nd and 40th respectively.

The Men’s B race saw another thrilling team competition, with the men taking home another team silver medal. Daniel Clorley, first year Business Management, took home his second gold medal in a week pounding ahead of the 216 athletes competing. Fresh from his victory at the South of England Cross Country Championships the previous weekend, 19-year-old Clorley won in a stylish fashion to finish the 7.9km course in 25 minutes and 43 seconds. Alex Tovey, second year Sports and Exercise Science, finished the course just three seconds later to grab the silver medal.

An 80 strong team travelled to Scotland for this year’s championships, so UBSport vests were not only conspicuous by their number but also by the quality of performance, with nearly all finishing in the top half.

The Women’s team only narrowly missed out on the medals. The team of 20, which included both GB juniors Lauren Howarth and Katie Knowles were delighted to make the top four despite being hit with injury problems. Sarah Treacy, third year Medic, had a brilliant race to finish sixth, running the 6.4km course in 23 minutes and 22 seconds.

Head Coach Mike Bull said, ‘A fabulous team performance! Having endured a long coach journey for the second year in a row, after last year in snowy Aberdeen it was great to see the squad perform to the best of their ability and take away some well deserved medals.’

Mike added, ‘There were too many achievements to single anything out except perhaps for the team spirit shown throughout the day and the support provided by the non-competing athletes and team mates to those running the races. This was even noted by the neutrals in attendance on the day.’

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