Fantastic Weekend for St Mary’s EPACC Athletes

The St Mary’s University, Twickenham, Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) had an outstanding weekend with athletes in action at the British Universities Colleges and Sport (BUCS) Indoor Championships, the Sainsbury’s Indoor Grand Prix and the National Cross Country Championships on the 21^st and 22^nd February. The BUCS Indoor Championships saw EPACC athletes win five medals in the space of 90 minutes. Third year Sport Science student Rowan Axe began with a commanding win in the men’s 3000m. Teammate Scott Halsted, first year student, lead the race with 300m remaining but finished second, just losing to Rowan. Elsewhere, History student Richard Charles took the Gold in the men’s 800m by 0.3 seconds and Ben Coldray and Dan Cheeseman saw success in the men’s 1500m. Dan led for much of the race, however Ben took the Gold with a trademark sprint finish as Dan finished third. In the women’s 1500m, first year student Sophie Riches finished just out of the medals in fourth place. EPACC Performance Coach Craig Winrow said, “It was a great afternoon to see so many of my athletes winning medals and to do this is the space of 90 minutes was amazing.” A number of EPACC athletes also competed in action at the Sainsbury’s Indoor Grand Prix. The event is widely considered to be the World’s premier indoor meeting and is the last chance to achieve the qualifying standards for the European Indoor Championships. In the men’s 800m, St Mary’s Alumnus James Bowness beat his lifetime best performance by more than a second. His time put him within the qualifying standard set by British Athletics and has a guaranteed place in the British Team, where he will make his senior debut. Charlie Grice also recorded a new personal best in the men’s 1500m event, having already secured his place in Europe last week at the British Indoor Championships. Also joining them in the British team will be Emelia Gorecka who will run the 3000m event. The European Indoor Championships will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, 6^th to 8^th March 2015. The final event of the weekend was the National Cross Country Championships, held at Parliament Hill, which saw a record 5,200 athletes competing. EPACC athletes dominated the Women’s race, taking a clean sweep of the top four places. Lily Partridge took first place, 35 years after her mother achieved the same feat, Louise Small came second, Sarah Astin came third, and Georgie Bruinvels came fourth, battling right to the end. EPACC Performance Coach Mick Woods said, “I am really happy and pleased for the girls, it was a very tough race and they all ran outstandingly well.”