Nick Jones
This weekend UWE Athletics took the trip up north to tackle BUCS indoors in Sheffield. After leaving Frenchay 8am on Friday the team arrived at the English Institute of Sport for the first day of racing.
This weekend UWE Athletics took the trip up north to tackle BUCS indoors in Sheffield. After leaving Frenchay 8am on Friday the team arrived at the English Institute of Sport for the first day of racing. First up was Zak Shaikh in the 60m who struggled out of the blocks but fought back well and finished the in 7.70. Sprinting Friend Matt Atkin followed with a 7.49 in the next heat in a race he simply described as "enjoyable".
Nick Jones was next on the track in the 800m heats clocking a time of 2:01 and finishing 4th. Also in the 800m was Otis Mondir making his indoor debut in a challenging heat who finished in 2:07, unfortunately neither times were quick enough to make it through to the finals. Petra Ting also making her indoor debut shook off a minor foot injury and produced a great run in the 5th heat producing a 2:54 and finishing with a smile.
Day 2 arrived and it was time for Alex Fields who first competed at BUCS 10 years prior, to step up in the 400m working hard for an impressive 3rd place in his heat with 53.04 narrowly missing progression to the next round.
The last event of the day saw a 4 man strong UWE team compete in the 4 x 200m relay. Zak Shaikh provided a great start out of the blocks before a slick change over to Matt Atkin who responded with a quick lap of his own and managing to get the batten to Otis Mondir despite a tumble at the changeover. Otis held his place in the field and Nick Jones carried the batten home with the team claiming a new university PB shaving over a second off the previous time with 1:36.72 and beating University of Bristol’s heat time in the process!
Day 3 came around quickly and it was finally time for Kirsty McBarnet to show BUCS what she could do in the 200m producing her quickest indoor time of the season finishing in an impressive 27.8 enough for 3rd but sadly not enough to progress. Matt and Zak competed in the 200m to round off a successful BUCS experience with matt putting down a quick 24.51 and Zak securing a new indoor PB with 24.14.
Overall a weekend of intense competition, PBs and an all-important victory over UOB heading into Varsity season.