Just like Braids, all roads appeared to lead to Exeter on Friday (apart from Mhairi – I was well Jel) with all flights to Bristol cancelled because apparently there was some snow in the south? We didn’t see much…? Anyway 32 Haries braved the 20 hr round trip on the coach which was organised efficiently by the Sports Union and a special shoutout to Katie Hall for taking on the last minute challenge to get us all there! This hard work eventuated into results as Mhairi brought home a podium position to secure 3rd place, whilst Jack Leith had an astonishing run, getting himself all the way up to 28th in the Men’s A race, whilst fierce rival Alex Carcas suffered a slip of the shoe costing him dearly in his XC battle after a good result at Livingston two weeks ago.
Taking it back a few steps to the bus down which left sharply mid-day Friday after a scramble for most, to get their things together. Meanwhile captain Gregor Malcolm was hard at work getting his quiz for the bus together (since we were unprepared as I don’t think EasyJet would have appreciated us using their inflight tannoy system…). We also kindly helped out fellow flight stranded BUCS XC’ers Glasgow Caledonia as all 7 of them joined the bus down and the quiz which followed making the 10hr bus feel that little bit faster, arriving at the Travelodge for just gone 00:30.
Fast forward to race day, on arrival to Bicton College an assessment of the water jump was made after being told that the water jump would be done twice to then become entirely optional for the entire race. This was only taken as a challenge to Maddy Austin as she sized up her attempt at her swan dive into the pond on the rest of her walk around the course. Unfortunately for Matthew Dailey after his walk of the course he made the decision that he wouldn’t take the plunge into what would have been his first BUCS, due to an injury he recently picked up.
For the rest it was full steam ahead and as the Women’s race quickly got ahead, Mhairi took to the front pack of the field, in what was her last BUCS XC racing for the Haries. She contended with athletes at the front including Jess Judd, Amelia Quirk and Anna Moller. In what was a close fought battle throughout the race for Mhairi to get a well deserved 3rd place. Off the back of some incredibly strong races recently. Not very far behind Mhairi was Holly Page flying around the undulating course to get herself 17th place, averaging 16.6km/h around the course, I’m sure everyone will agree there is much more to come from quite literally record breaking (even breaks the rules for records) Holly as she continues her studies at Edinburgh. Breaking her own expectations after bravely saying in her Harie of the week interview that she was aiming for sub 50th place was Zoe Pflug brining it home in a fantastic 31st position in her first ever BUCS race too. Next Harie to make it back around the hills and over the finishing line, finishing in a strong ??? position was HOTW Amy Frankland (Franko). After already showing her strength in the hills recently she also proved that a hilly finish was no threat for the 4th year Primary Teaching student. Recently coming back from injury and not having been able to get much running done at all before the race was Naomi Lang who still also managed to break the sub 50th position getting herself across the line in 41st place whilst looking very strong running given the lack of training.
Also having good runs were Constance, the ever improving Polly Edwards, Katie Lowery and Alex Kittle who all managed to get across the line in a heavily contended field under 150th place. Just behind them was Emma Gill, Hannah Morrison and hot on the heels of Hannah was JOSEPHINE Edmunds (spelt it write) and Rona Tyler with Josephine edging in front with a strong finish up the hill. Behind them was Jennie Glass, Lydia Blythe (who is now in sunny Spain #Jealous), Maddy Austin (who finished after taking a dive on the second lap) and Arianne to round out the women’s results.
Split into a Mens A Race and a Mens B Race, with only 6 athletes from each club taking part in the A Race. This year we had Jack Leitch, Alex Carcas, Euan Gilham, Max Milarvie, Callum Tharme and Elisha De Mello making the team of 6. The question on everyones mind was who would win in the showdown of the year Carcas vs Leitch. And unfortunately for Alex this year was not to be his year as early on into the first lap he struggled with his shoe as it fell off. Speaking to Carcas after the race he told me that it must have lost him about 100 places but this has not been verified on how many places he lost, it may have just been to sooth
the wounds of the people that voted for him in the quiz on the bus… (we believed in you Alex!) But who was to know if Alex could have beat a storming Jack Leitch who was averaging 18.5km/h around the course, and finishing so far up the results is a truly commendable for Jack and a good result for the Hounds. Next across the line for the A Race was Euan Gilham also back from a run of injuries but not having trained as much as he would have liked, but rumour has it he has found a loop exactly 1/2 mile long in an undisclosed area in Edinburgh… Maybe this was key to his great performance? Third across the line was 5th year Physics student Eilsha De Mello, who somehow made it on just about every bus this weekend. Next up was Max Milarvie, after having a strong season last year getting some fantastic times and some strong XC performances the Milarvie Gurn was truly on this weekend as he came just over 30 seconds behind Elisha. Max followed the rest of the Hounds pack home as Alex maintained a great position to finish just six seconds behind Max followed by Callum that missed out by 1.4 seconds to Alex at the finish line!
After an eventful Men’s A race, it was that time for the Men’s B race to take the centre of attention. With Edinburgh having 9 athletes making it to the start line after a lot of guys decided no to the journey on the coach, don’t blame you at all guys. We also seen a return of postgrad Pat G making it to the start line although he did not manage to finish the gruelling course, I ‘cammy’ believe it.
Most notable in the B race had to be captain Gregor Malcolm who crossed the line in a cracking position of 17th with a lead of almost a minute in front of any other Harie #bigbuisnessbigBUCS. Next was OFK, easily spotted with his hairdo, which i will reiterate wasn’t a forfeit, it was choice… Only 4 seconds behind Oscar was Jack Eykelbosch (also spelt write Gregor…) who had a great race showing his strength in XC. A wee battle behind was with fresher Joe Battershill and 3rd year AstroPhysics student Andrew Johnstone who Joe managed to pip across the line by just 0.2 seconds! Joe is my one to watch for the next few years, expecting some big things Joe, after I had completely underestimated his speed before the race. Unfortunately Fraser Roach who has recently been struggling with a niggle was round the course just in front of me, although definitely pulling me along the race with him in sight for most of the course. Harry Nimmo then rounded out the rest of the Haries in the B race.
Thanks to Polly, Ciara, Gregor and Katie for making this all happen and to Olly from the SU that did his wizardry getting us a coach last minute. Thanks also to BUCS and Exeter
Athletics Club for organising the race too!
I have some photos from the Mens A race and Women’s Race however it may be a while since I’ve sorted and edited them all
