Loughborough Students Athletics Club finished with the men’s, women’s and overall BUCS Athletics trophies after another very successful day at the Olympic Stadium in London.
In a day which included 21 finals, Loughborough won gold in the women’s 400m, women’s 200m, men’s 800m, women’s hammer, and three out of four relays. Harriet Pryke, Lucy James, Laura Wake and Meghan Beesley ran a Championship record in the women’s 4x400m and in the same event, the men were just 0.16 seconds off a second Championship record.
The men’s 4x400m quartet of Niall Flannery, Markus Hunt, Richard Davenport, David Guest ran 3:10.36 in the drizzle to take gold.
Myra Perkins also came through a difficult hammer final for gold in tricky conditions. Despite leading after her first throw, Perkins slipped down to fourth after a few no throws. However, the reigning BUCS Champion held her nerve to throw 56.63m in her fifth attempt to seal the gold medal.
In the 800m, LSAC picked up two medals with Guy Learmonth winning gold in 1:50.36 and Andy Richardson seizing bronze.
Earlier, Laura Wake and Emily Diamond both took golds in the 400m and 200m respectively, while there were silvers for Richard Shuttleworth (javelin) and Richard Davenport (400m) and Rob Mohan took bronze in the shot put.
The only noticeable blip for the club was in the 100m hurdles; Danielle Rooney caught the eighth hurdle ruining her race. Head in hands she slammed the final two hurdles to the ground as her disappointment was clear for all to see.
Equally disappointing was a DQ for the men’s 4x100m relay team although photographic evidence discovered later may have overturned the decision.
It mattered little to the overall result as Emma Lowry collected the women’s title and Mike Baker collected the men’s before both received the overall BUCS Athletics Title.
Men’s captain Mike Baker told Label:
“It truly was a great weekend for LSAC on the grandest of stages in the Olympic Stadium. The 21 medals, 13 of which were gold, is testament to the inspiration of our athletes to deliver performances worthy of their continued hard work in preparing for this event.”
“The set up at the Olympic Park was professional and thorough, and this subsequently made for a superb weekend of athletics despite the often inclement conditions.”
For a full report on all four days of the BUCS Athletics, see Label Magazine which is out on Friday.
