Nine Medals for St Mary’s Athletes at the British Athletics Championships

Athletes from the Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) and alumni of St Mary’s University, Twickenham saw a successful weekend at the British Athletics Championships, returning with nine medals.

Hosted at the Alexandra Stadium, Birmingham, the Championships saw nearly 40 athletes from St Mary’s compete, with five qualifying for the GB European Championship team, and a further three in contention ahead of the announcement on 23^rd July.

In the Men’s 800m, St Mary’s athletes claimed three of the top four places, with Elliot Giles winning Gold and Daniel Rowden winning Silver, both automatically qualifying for the European Championships, with London 2012 Olympian Andrew Osagie finishing in fourth.

Alumna, EPACC athlete and Rio 2016 Olympian Steph Twell also won Gold in the Women’s 5000m, as did fellow Alumna and Rio 2016 Olympian Jade Lally in the Women’s Discus.

In the Men’s 1500m, EPACC athlete Jake Wightman, who won Bronze in the same event at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, won Silver to automatically qualify for the European Championships, with alumnus and Rio 2016 Olympian Charlie Grice finishing in fourth.

The Men’s 5000m also saw success as EPACC Athlete and Rio 2016 Olympian Andy Vernon won the Silver, with fellow EPACC Athlete Chris Thompson winning the Bronze. Elsewhere, London 2017 semi-finalist and EPACC Athlete Adelle Tracey won Bronze in the Women’s 800m, as did Emily Moyes in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase.

St Mary’s Director of Sport Andrew Reid-Smith said, “It’s a significant  achievement to have so many St Mary’s athletes competing at the British Champs. It was great to see a number of them making finals and winning medals and notable that some of the younger student athletes are also stepping up to perform well at this level.”

Other St Mary’s finalists at the championships include;

Men

Ryan Driscoll – 5^th 3000m Steeplechase

Canaan Solomon – 6^th 800m

Daniel Jarvis – 9^th 3000m Steeplechase

Emile Cairess – 19^th 5000m

Bradley Goater – 21^st 5000m

Women

Emily Hosker-Thornhill – 6^th 1500m

Philippa Bowden – 6^th 5000m

Sophie Connor – 11^th 1500m