BUCS 2024

Very quick summary:

OhmygoodnessBUCSwasawesome

Quick summary:

While we cannot, for a second, suggest any race is better than Varsity, BUCS was incredibly awesome. There were strong results from all Oxford teams, but the silver team medal in the men’s long course deserves a particular shout-out. The post-race celebrations were as BUCS post-race celebrations should be.

The full BUCS report:

BUCS XC is a very special race. Traditionally, it is an opportunity for Oxford and Cambridge to put their animosity aside, and instead focus on beating each other onto the podium. It is common wisdom that Birmingham and Loughborough will take the top two positions, and then Oxford and Cambridge can battle for the third spot. Our women’s short course team put in a very strong performance, finishing the third university. However, this year was special because the men’s long course team put in a truly phenomenal performance to finish 2nd, behind Birmingham and beating Loughborough [and the tabs].

Each year, universities bid to hold BUCS XC. (Horspath 2025, anyone?) This year, University of Leeds were fortunate enough to be the hosts. The rest of us were unfortunate enough to race on their horror-show of a course. Shotover, where Oxford hosts II-IVs Varsity biennially, is generally considered a nasty course. But this course was nasty to the point of sadism. The start line was halfway up a hill. The finish was – again – on a hill. Most of the course was waterlogged, and that was before they decided to drive a tractor round it. Thankfully, because of some protected frogs, they had to remove the watersplash. ‘Yay’ you think, until you realise they just rerouted the course through a mud-swamp of a forest, with a ditch in the middle of it.

Mud

An anonymous student asked Naph (who is from the USofA) whether the US had some ‘weird obsession’ with just running around golf courses. They were gently informed that, in fact, it is the British who have distorted views of what XC should be. Regardless, the course designers evidently decided all of this was not enough, so threw a few extra hale bales in at the bottom of the hill. This was going to be a BUCS XC to remember*.

At 11:15, 22 of Oxford’s finest were on the start line of the women’s short course. Two long laps of the course awaited them. After a little jostling, they were off, immediately contending with the aforementioned hill. Still, the dark blue women cruised around the course, taking it in their stride. With Charlotte Buckley coming in 13th, Anika Schwarze-Chintapatla 20th and Jemima Ridley 24th (all in before the first tab, we will add), Oxford was the third university to the finish.

Vice Captain Bea shows us how it’s done

An hour later, the largest field of the day was assembling for the men’s short course. One anonymous classics student put in a masterclass of timing, going to ‘tie their shoelaces in a bush’ and arriving back thirty seconds before the start. Having been churned up twice already by the women’s race, getting a grip on the hill was a challenge. From the moment the gun went, there was mud, there was sweat, and there were tears. Sam Waite, who proudly was first to the water jump at Old Blues this year, did not join the ‘hooligans’ who did a fly and die to the top of the hill. Perhaps more critically for the team’s performance, Indy Barnes (5th) Chris Parker (10th) and Jared Martin (12th) kept their heads amongst this chaos, bringing Oxford’s team home to fourth place, unfortunately just missing out on the podium. Just a minute: INDY CAME FIFTH ON SHORT COURSE!

For the majority of Oxford’s athletes, now came the real event: BUCS spectating. With the women’s and men’s long courses limited to four and six athletes respectively, the bulk of the club was focussed on charging around, cheering. Compared to the ultra-flat Swansea course of 2023, I suspect we didn’t do quite as much charging around, but made up for it with cheering.

By the third race of the day, the course was just a mud bath. However, this did not phase Oxford’s athletes. Scorers Maddie McDonald (19th), Naomi Kingston (21st) and Beth Rawlinson (25th) all put in strong runs around the exceptionally tough course. OUCCC veteran [postgrad] Lucy Thomson brought up the pack, finishing an eminently respectable 43rd.

Maddie, about to ‘close that tab.’

The final race of the day was the men’s long course. Now having had three races already, there should be no doubt about the muddiness of this course. Still, six of Oxford’s men said ‘bring it on.’ Soon after the gun went, a blazingly fast pack established itself, containing five of Oxford’s runners (with four to score). 10km later, Tom Wood crossed the line fifth. FIFTH! Not only this, but he was shortly followed by Joe Morrow in 11th, Alex Grun at 17th and Thomas Renshaw at 21st. Such a stellar performance was naturally rewarded with a trip to the medal ceremony. However, this was the only team – of any university this year – that was able to split Birmingham and Loughborough on the podium. OXFORD GOT SILVER!!!

Now, we will consider a little history: Jack Millar (proof if you don't believe me) once earned notoriety for placing higher at BUCS than Blues Varsity. Indeed, songs are still sung about this feat, despite it having occurred in 2018**. However, the power duo of Twood and Morrow both (almost) achieved this feat: matching varsity place and improving by two, respectively. This has been a historical BUCS for Oxford.

Our coach, Matt Seddon, was delighted with the results. We owe a lot to his fantastic coaching and are very thankful for his guidance and expertise. Our coach driver, Garret, was also delighted with the results. We are very thankful for him getting us to, from and around Leeds safely and on time.

Post-race dinner at Las Iguanas was a great way for athletes to unwind. The 2-4-1 cocktails, combined with a first £10 free [when you download the app] assisted us in this endeavour. We would like to clarify that this was not a debauched bacchanal: many high-quality mocktails were available, and the cocktails were spectacularly weak. Our club captain, Jared Martin(i), reaffirmed his love of a certain espresso beverage. Much of the club indulged in the after-party, but this does not need to be discussed here.

By 9am the following morning, everyone was awake and back on the bus. Races had been raced, and memories had been made. It was time to head back to Oxford and the reality of our degrees. Now, we may be preparing for Nationals, a track season or a marathon, but really, we’re just looking forward to next BUCS.

* Also, this was actually on a golf course.

** Chris Parker, Oxford’s second runner in the men’s short course, was 12 at the time.