DURHAM UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS AND CROSS-COUNTRY CLUB

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Manchester Relays

Durham Park Run

Past v Present 2011 Information

National 6 stage

Farringdon Harrier League Race

Past V Present

Blaydon Harrier League / Liverpool Cross Challenge

BUCS - Everything else

BUCS indoors

BUCS CROSS COUNTRY 2012 CARDIFF

The Course was far from the traditional Cross Country course of mud and hills, instead we were faced with a fast, flat course that certainly favoured track and road running specialists as freezing temperatures made the ground rock solid.

The first race of the day was the men's 'A' race and DUAXC was to be represented by: Alex Robinson, Martin Proctor, Pat Vis, Dan Jenkin, Andrew Clarke and Ben Douglas. BUCS has one of the most competitive fields on the Cross Country calender and this year was no different as the top end of the race was filled with international athletes and even double olympians in the form of Ugandan legend Paskar Owar. Alex has been training fantastically of late so it was no surprise that he was well up the field finishing 28th. Next home was Martin who moved through the field fantastically in the second half of the race picking off between ten and twenty fatuiging runner to come home in 72nd, an imporvement of over ten places from last year. Martin was followed home by Pat, who after going off in the first half of the race like a bell end faded towards the end finishing in 90th. Completeing the scoting 4 Dan Jenkin continued his good winter form, finishing 96th. Both Andrew and Ben were BUCS debutants and did not disapoint, both featuring in the top 150 fininshin 110th and 138th respectively. Collectivly the boys managed to come a respectable 14th.

Next Race was the Women's race. DUAXC girls have been in fine form this season, dominanting the Durham park run. Our first finisher was finalist Holly Page who impresively made the top 50, coming 47th. Lucy Reid was following Holly for the most of the race and finished not far behind in 56th. Following Lucy were Ellie Wilson and Bryony Bendle who finished in an impressive 73rd and 86th, making up the 'A' team. 4 Girls well inside the top 100 was a brilliant result.

Just outside the top 100 we had Rebecca Farrell and Pascaline Boulay who were 106th and 127th.

Our other Girl Finishers were: Alex Slotwinski (147), Claudia Conway (178), Abigail Plank (186), Yvonne Farrell (192), Bria Dickinson (196), Hannah Paver (200), Kat O'Mahony (218), Lizzie Fletcher (308) and Sophie Davie (310).

The final race of the day was the Men’s B race. DUXAXC had a treat in store provided by the legend that is Alistair Galt. Donned in purple paint from head to toe, Alistair prowled the start line, with a look that can only be described as one of steely determination. Upon hearing the gun, Alistair charged like a cheater stalking its prey and took the lead. If that was not enough then he extended his arms and roared some indecipherable chant (probably from the archaeology society) for the length of the stat straight. It was my personal highlight of the weekend and will surely go down in DUXAXC folklore in years to come.

Onto the race itself, Alistair was not the only DUAXC member near the front at the start of the race. Big name in Durham (and after the night-out big name in Cardiff too) Jack Hillier started strongly, finding himself inside the top 10 for the opening minutes of the race. In a race dominated by some quality athletes from St Mary’s and Birmingham Jack ran very well to maintain a top 50 place, finishing in 48^th, a very good run indeed. Next there was a dual between athletics and cross country captains Ed and Rory. Rory took it out strongly, taking a good 80m lead over Ed. However, Ed slowly clawed him back a let loose with an electrifying sprint finish to just come out victorious. They came 68^th and 75^th respectively. Following Rory was Rob Torch and James Issac who were just outside of the top 100, coming 102^nd and 106^th. The rest of Duaxc’s ‘B’ race representatives were: Max Coventry (116), Ciaran Costello (153), Chris Lowe (159), Peter Bray (164), Ollie Cook (169), Nick Thomas (189), Pete Davison (195), Alistair Galt (221), Nick Butler (231), Phil Harrison (277), Clive Knipe (285), Josh Platt (297) and Yussuf Karuner (357).