BUSA Cross-Country 2007
By Owain Bristow
University Cross Country teams from the four corners of the country converged onto the spa town last week. Their aim was not to sample the spring waters but rather compete in the second most important race of the season. This year they were held in conjunction with the trials for the World Championships, which added further quality to the fields, already strengthened due to the absence of the short course race.
First to start was the Men's A race, held over 11km of undulating terrain. Cambridge's victorious Varsity squad was somewhat depleted, missing champion Paolo Natali and Captain Will George through injury, but nevertheless the six Cantabs in the two-hundred-and-thirty-five-strong field acquitted themselves well. Owain Bristow led home the team with 36:03 for 31st place, improving thirty five places from last year and just over a minute down on the top ten. Finishing hot on his heels was James Kelly in 32nd, who had been moving forwards during the four laps of the course after a steady start. Matt Grant (36:55), fourth in the Southern Junior Championships last week, produced another good run to finish 45th, after a race-long tussle with several dark blues. The scoring team was completed by a very encouraging 66th-placed performance from fresher John Redshaw (37:58), making his first team debut. Ulrich Paquet and Diarmuid O'Seaghdha completed the team sticking closely together for much of the race to finish in 75th and 77th respectively. Cambridge took 8th place overall in the team competition, behind a predictable Birmingham victory, lead by Frank Tickner taking his second successive individual title, and Oxford's 6th place. It was a solid, if unspectacular result, given the quality of the missing light blues.
Next to run were the women, over a 6km course, with Cambridge's Varsity-winning quartet having to concede to a strengthened Oxford team this time around. Durham's fast-improving Felicity Milton was the individual winner in 21:54 as light blue Charlotte Forbes cracked into the top fifty with 46th place in 24:22, underlining her Lent Term form. Club Captain Claire Day finished in 62nd place some twenty seconds behind her, and Varsity champion and Southern Junior 10th placer Polly Keen was a further ten seconds back. With Harriet Owles (25:17) closing the team in 78th place out of two hundred and seventy five runners, Cambridge's ladies finished as eighth team to emulate the performance of the men and improve their national standing significantly on the results from the last two years. The remainder of the Cambridge team also ran very well. Helen Mort was another to improve on last year, taking 125th place and Sabrina Verjee (139th) and Cat Mactier (148th) should also be really pleased with their runs in such a big field.
The final race was the Men's B 7km. Andy Bell had his most successful BUSA to date finishing just over a minute behind the leaders in 17th place in 24:39. This was the highest placing by a Cambridge runner in the event for four years. Andy Duncan also ran well to improve on his performance last year in Stirling. After a rocketing, elbow-tastic start which saw him placed in the top ten, James Gill settled back into the pack to take 91st overall, just in front of a steadily improving Liam Richardson (99th). Meanwhile Jamie Brunning and Rich Mathie moved through into 77th and 78th, only two seconds separating in the end and Mark Coley's 208th place completed the day's work for CUH&H. In a race dominated as usual by the red and violet vests of Birmingham and Loughborough, Cambridge's second team runners finished as 8th B team to round off a day of good weather and organisation and some fine individual performances.