Success for St Mary’s Athletes at National Cross Country Championships

There were eight top-15 finishes, including three medals, for athletes and alumni from the Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC) at St Mary’s University, Twickenham at the English National Cross Country Championships at the weekend.

The achievements at Parliament Hill, London, follow similar success at the recent British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Cross Country Championships, where St Mary’s finished as the most successful team - winning six medals.

First year Sport Science student Phoebe Law, who picked up individual and team Silver medals at BUCS, won Gold in the Senior Women’s race, finishing 20 seconds ahead of alumna Louise Small – who won silver. Fellow St Mary’s alumni Sarah Austin and Katie Bingle also put in strong performances, finishing ninth and 13^th respectively.

In the Junior Men’s race, current student Emile Cairess followed up his individual Bronze and team Gold at the BUCS Cross Country Championships with a Silver at the English Nationals while Luke Prior, who eased to victory at BUCS and also won team Silver, finished 13^th.

There were two other top-15 finishes in the Senior Men’s race with alumnus Tom Austin coming 10^th and current student Ellis Cross, who won team Gold with Emile at BUCS, finishing 15^th.

Director for Sport at St Mary’s Andrew Reid-Smith said, “It was a great event and as ever Parliament Hill presented a tough challenge. Congratulations to St Mary’s athletes and alumni for performing so well and building on recent successes at the BUCS Cross Country, BUCS Nationals and British Indoor Championships.”