BUCS XC

BUCS XC is always a big event for the uni but when you’re hosting it and the race is on your home turf you’re expected to deliver results, so this was a big day for BUAC. We were sporting good teams in all races and our 6 in the A race were Wilko, Alex Tovey, Josh Lilley, Adrian Holliday, Dan Cliffe and myself. We didn’t know much about the other teams but the question everyone was asking was “is Vernon running??”. It wasn’t until closer to the race we found out he was racing abroad so the team race became even more open.

The build up for me wasn’t great. I did my normal running on a Thursday but I didn’t feel any good in the morning. Then on Friday I woke up ill and wasn’t best pleased. I just did my best not to do anything too demanding and even decided to sack my run off. I then woke up the next day feeling a bit better and trying to convince myself I was ok. Steve knew that I wasn’t well and if it was any other race I wouldn’t have been anywhere near the start line but because I get support off the uni and I said I’d commit to BUCS I couldn’t just ring up on the day and say “sorry guys, I’ve got a cold”. I don’t think that would’ve gone down too well.

We went for a warm up as a team and I felt absolutely awful. My chest felt really heavy and tight and just that jog felt like hard work. It was also really, really, really wind which in addition to the hills made it a tough course. Anyway I got to the start line absolutely bricking it because I thought there was no chance I was getting round 10k at Senneley’s with that in my system. So we set off and I set off quite conservative because of the way I was but I was surprised to find myself not far off the front.

We had 2 small laps then 4 big ones to contend and during the small laps I moved through so I was up with the leaders. The pace wasn’t very quick because with the wind I don’t think anyone was too keen to take it on. Throughout the race there were a couple of guys who made bursts at the front and I just tried to cover them all and stay in contention.

My chest wasn’t feeling good but I tried to stay relax and control my breathing. It was tight and going uphill proved to be a lot tougher on my chest than it usually does. For the first 2 small laps and first two big laps I was able to cope with it but after that it just completely collapsed and I was in some big pain. But even before that if someone had put the boot in earlier there was probably no way I would’ve been able to go with it and even if I did I would’ve blown up trying to hang on to them. Luckily for me the pace remained quite tame. But anyway, two big laps to go and my lungs had had it. I saw I was still in the running for a medal so I tried to stick in there and tag along with the pace and just put up with any pain that came my way.

With less than a lap to go I was still in there and I thought “it’s time for me to make a move here” so I opened my stride and made a bid for the win. Only Ross Murray came with me so I kept trying to push as hard as I could. On that last bit of the race my body went through phases where I could push, but then I would just slow right done because it couldn’t go anymore. It was just a case of pushing when my body would allow it, and hoping Ross wouldn’t come past me when I had mini blow ups.

Many people told me after the race that when Ross came past me on the downhill part just before the turn into the final straight they thought he had the race won. When he came past me my only thought was to latch and wait. I was pretty confident with my sprint (every runner thinks they have a finish though) as I was able to outrun Ricky Stevenson at Mansfield earlier in the season and I also felt like I had another gear. Then again Ross is a 3:40 1500m runner so I thought it wasn’t a case of if he had a gear left, rather a case of how many he had left to burn. I just unleashed everything I had going into that final straight and if he had a response I would give anything (if there was any) to try and respond. Fortunately I managed to open a gap and make it to the finish line.    

I was spent after the race but it was worth it. We also took the team title so that was the icing on the cake from my point of view; it was a successful day out. BUAC managed to get team medals in every race and we even had more individual medals in the B race with Dan Clorley getting bronze and Carl Smith with a runaway victory.