BUCS day 1 started off with fire and desire for BUAC. Our largest ever team travelled up to Sheffield in the quest for BUCS medals and personal best performances!
Our first medal of BUCS went to Didi, winning her 60m Ambulant final! It’s her second win in the event in two years, proving to herself and to the world that she is a serious contender for the Paris 2024 Paralympic team. Furthermore, it was a new personal best for Didi, in 9.12, cementing her great form going into the outdoor season!
Performance of the day must go to Darian Moore, who achieved his first ever BUCS individual medal with a bronze and a new personal best of 6.77! This was backed up by his 6.81 personal best in the semi-final to get to the final, showcasing the amazing form he had been putting in across the indoor season. Alongside Darian in the 60m, Suresh Black produced an incredible display on his return to BUCS indoors. Clocking 6.88, then 6.82 to both break, and then ANNIHILATE the 6.90 barrier was a major milestone for our Bermudan brute, who in the process, made his first BUCS final! This made BUAC history as our first ever double male representative in the Men’s 60m finals!
On the women’s side, Jasmine Wilkins ran incredibly well through adversity to make her first BUCS final on her BUCS debut. She battled not only three rounds, but a horrible stomach bug to make it to each start line. In the process of her so-called “soup diet”, she still managed to PB twice, going 7.61 in the heats and then 7.60 in the semi-finals to cap an incredible display. With her, Maddy Whapples put in an ever-consistent display of her sprinting talents, clocking 7.68 in the heats, but just falling short in the semis with a 7.67.
In the 60H, there were PBs flying around just as much as our BUAC stars flying over the hurdles! Dani Hales smashed her PB by over 2 TENTHS to clock 8.44 in her semi-final, with Kira Holt clocking 8.68 on her BUCS debut to make it 2/2 ladies in the final. Come final time, Dani clocked in 6th, and it was 8th for our rising fresher star to show a lot of promise ahead in her BUAC career. On the men’s side, Craig Moncur continued his hot form this indoor season with another new PB, this time clocking 8.34! Fionn Leaney got a. 8.49 time on his debut in th3 60H at BUCS.
Out in the field, qualifying and points were the name of the game for our finest. One amazing highlight was Will Sutton in the Pole Vault. Our newest decathlete recruit broke his 4m PB not once, but TWICE to raise it to 4.13m, placing his 12th overall in the competition. James Pratt also vaulted well, putting in a mark of 3.73m. In the pits, Triple Jump qualifications dominated the day, with both Josh Woods and Matthew Cox making it out their pools well on the men’s side, ready for Sunday’s final. On the women’s side, Trinity O’Connor and Cleo Tomlinson jumped valiantly, with Cleo in particular only 9cm off qualification to the final with a jump of 10.91m, but both missed out.
Last, but by no means least, our distance team kickstarted their laps to glory. Today was the turn of our 8 runners to do the business, and boy did they! All 4 made it through safely to the semi-finals; Ruby Simpson and Cam Kelly-Gordon for the women, Jake Minshull and Ben Gardiner for the men!
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