BUAC began their XC League season with a men’s team victory and the lowest ever BUAC women’s team score. The BUAC domination was clear, with half of the men’s top 30 and over half of the women’s top 20 being either current or ex-BUAC runners.
In the women’s race, Mia Atkinson took a commanding victory, finishing over 30 seconds clear of the field. Elsa Palmer finished a stunning 3rd place, followed closely by teammates Rosie Hamilton-James and Abby Rex, making a fine comeback from injury, in 4th and 5th respectively. This gave the team an incredible combined score of 13 and means they take an early lead in the league over rivals Birchfield and Loughborough.
Both competing for their home clubs, Georgie Campbell (7th) and Beth Sykes (8th) had strong runs to round out the top 10. The sea of red vests continued with other great performances from Katie Hopkins (10th), Abby Michalec (59th), Kate Stevens (62nd), Tash Mundell (64th), Kate Phillips (66th) and Lucy Curd (78th). Fantastic runs for their home clubs from Ella Semple (11th), Lucy Stevens (14th), and Abigail Saker (36th) ensured all of the BUAC women finished in the top 100.
Not to be outdone, both the A and B men’s teams also took home team victories with 50 and 158 points respectively. Michael Ward finished a brilliant 2nd place, followed by Tomer Tarragano in 3rd. The BRAT double act of Charlie Davis and Joseph Tuffin finished 5th and 6th respectively, with Brett Rushman close behind in 7th. Completing the scoring team, XC captain Elliot Moran finished 9th, followed by Larry Ryan in 14th and Ethan O’shea in 15th.
In the B team fresher idol legend, Sam Burkitt, finished 17th in his Birmingham league debut. Zach Bridgeland pipped alumni Jethro McGraw to finish 18th, closely followed by the proud Welshman, Morgan James, in 21st. Matthew Clutterbuck came 27th to beat home alumni Max Walk in 28th. Rounding out the B team, fresher Edward Diamond came 31st and 800m specialist Tyler Bilyard came 44th, just behind fellow short-distance enthusiast and alumni, Adam Day. The depth of the men’s team was on full show with great runs from Petros Kousis (52nd), Aidan Banfield (57th), Joseph Carnelley (61st), Thomas Ross (71st), Josh Ballinger (186th).
Full results for the Midland League can be found here
Full results for the Birmingham League can be found here
Photo credits to @imageineering full album here