This weekend proved to be a successful one, in what has proved to be a fruitful season so far for LUUCCC. A sunny saturday afternoon marked the Braids Hill fell race in Edinburgh which consisted of a 3 mile loop which involved running up to a summit via testing climbs and then back down the other side of the hill in a series of tricky descents. The women’s race was to complete one of these laps while the men’s was to complete two.
The women’s race started at 2.00 sharp with some great talent from the Leeds University on show, the race was won by Clare Ward of Edinburgh University in a stunning 18 minutes 34 seconds. However Edinburgh weren’t going to have it all there own way with the universities Emma Raven close behind in 3rd (18.53). Mary Ferrier also impressed in her first race of the year to finish a great 17th (20.12). Caroline Ford also demonstrated her form with a great follow up from her heroics in the Manchester relays finishing 29th (20.55). Next to count was Rebecca Jameson (22.09), followed by Lucy Gemmel 58th (23.04).
There was also a highly intense battle for 62nd spot between Frances Carney and Amicia Lee who came in 62nd and 63rd respectively. During the race many spectators thought Lee would win the fight as Carney looked slightly jaded but Carney pulled out a superb sprint finish. The surpsie of his energy demolized Lee but led her to a repectable second place. The team was made up by Fiona Wiles who finished in 67th (24.14), Jessica White 71st (24.34), Hannah Gornall 189th (24.40), Beth Ferrier 81st (25.05) just ahead of Laura Severinsen 82nd (25.06) and Beth Martin 99th (27.49) The men’s race commenced at 2.30, with high expectations on Leeds after some stunning individual performances this year so far including Freddie Slemeck’s international debut in Slovenia ), with 4 people to count per team. The race up to the summit for the first time showed some stunning ascending from Elliot Jackson and Matt Lockyer who both leading the race closely followed by Slemeck and Alex Bellew.
The overall winner was Niall Sheehan of Lasswade AC with 32 minutes 35 seconds, with the main challenge from the uni coming from Alex Bellew in 4th (33.35). Next from Doss was Freddie Slemeck in 5th a solid 23 seconds behind Bellew with a run in which he said “I couldn’t have done any more” which involoved a superb sprint finish at the end. The team was made up by Matt Lockyer who gave another usefull run in 13th (34.31) despite massive wind resistance on his newly formed movember facial hair and Elliot Jackson who’s self confessed lack of endurance caused him to fade to finish 18th (35.35). This caused the team to finish a brilliant 2nd place overall just behind Edinburgh University. There was also great runs from James Raven in 22nd (35.53), a debut from Jack Wood in 27th (36.22) who was voted Leeds Univerisites individual athlete of the weekend, and Luke Buswell in 42nd (37.04) . Tom Heawood finished a respectable 58th (38.06) carrying on his improving form.
Other runs worth a mention were Dave Burtles 78th (39.34), Alex Jeffreys 102nd (41.05) who closely contested with Shane Adams who came 107th (41.16), John Derrick 139th (43.00), Thomas Canaway in 180th (46.52) and Adam Kirk 203rd (53.03). Leeds Universities Men’s race captain commented on the sucessfull weekend saying “Some stunning individual performaces from Emma (Raven) and Alex (Bellew) provided a strong base upon which the rest of the team could build in a weekend where the university showed their terrific strength in depth for both the men’s and women’s race”
Author: Alf Tupper