31 current students and 31 alumni competed alongside 16 athletes who use º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ as their training base, and successfully took home 24 medals across the two days, equating to over a quarter of medals available.
Particular highlights include the four medals picked up by current students, with Ben Higgins (coach: Stewart Marshall) taking silver in a time of 47.07 and only just missing out on defending his title from last year in the 400m; Lily Hulland (Lukasz Zawila/Femi Akinsanya) coming second in the triple jump with a season’s best 12.71m, jumping the same distance as first place alumna Mary Elcock, but taking the silver medal on countback; Cameron Fillery (Benke Blomkvist) continuing his improvement throughout the season in the 60m hurdles to take bronze in 7.93 behind fellow International athletes David King and Andrew Pozzi; and multi-eventer Ewan Bradley (lead coach: David Feeney) winning a fantastic pole vault silver with a new PB of 4.90, sharing second place with alumnus and his pole vault coach Jack Phipps.
Bradley, who is also the AU Athletics club chair, has had a fine return to competition after injury and surgery last year and was delighted with his first senior UK medal. He said: “I just went out to enjoy the experience. I knew if I performed at my best a medal may have been a possibility, but to get a medal and a PB is the best outcome I could have asked for.
"I can’t wait for BUCS Indoors next week where I’ll be competing in the pole vault again, and then it’ll be back into training before the outdoor season for the other nine events that make up my main event, the decathlon."
Femi Akinsanya, Director of Athletics at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ added: “It’s always brilliant attending national championships and seeing the familiar faces of º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ students past and present. We’re proud of the part we play in the development of athletics in the UK both as an academic institution and training base, and we look forward to seeing how the year progresses for the athletes”.