Championship record for Kirsten McAslan and Bath hurdles one-two are highlights of brilliant BUCS Athletics weekend
Kirsten McAslan set a new 400m championship record and there was a 400m hurdles one-two for Jack Houghton and Jacob Paul during an excellent weekend for University of Bath students at the BUCS Outdoor Athletics Championships.
There were also gold medals for Dave King, Ellie Davies and Josh Olawore plus individual silvers for Bethany Close and Clare Maurer as Bath finished a strong fifth in the overall rankings at Bedford.
Colin Bovell, head track and field coach at the University of Bath, said: “I am really happy with how the weekend went, a lot of people very much outperformed themselves.
“We had a host of finalists and semi-finalists, while the performances of all the medalists were particularly strong.
“I was also really impressed by our relay performances, where we won three medals. We were much better all round than last year.”
Biochemistry student McAslan, who helped Great Britain win 4x400m relay silver at the European Indoor Championships on her last outing, was the class act in the women’s 400m field.
The 2013 BUCS champion comfortably won both her heat and semi-final before storming to gold in an outdoor personal best of 52.46, breaking Perri Shakes-Drayton’s five-year-old championship record.
Bath dominated the men’s 400m hurdles, with Biology student Houghton and Paul winning their respective heats and semi-finals to set up an intriguing head-to-head.
And it was Houghton – coached by Bovell – who edged to victory in 50.70, with Sports & Social Sciences student Paul clocking 51.60 to go one better than the bronze medal he won at the championships 12 months earlier.
King also improved on his 2014 performance as he comfortably claimed the 110m hurdles title in 13.92.
Davies, who is studying Sport & Exercise Science, won Bath’s first gold of the weekend as she clocked 36:22.01 to finish ten seconds clear of the field in the women’s 10,000m.
And Accounting & Finance student Olawore completed Bath’s gold rush by leaping to a personal best of 7.42m with his last effort in the long jump.
Clare Maurer, a Natural Sciences student, cleared 3.70m in the pole vault, only being beaten to gold on countback by Coventry’s Sophie Cook.
And Sport & Exercise Science student Bethany Close ran 14.07 to finish runner-up to Marilyn Nwawulor of Middlesex in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Close bagged a second silver of the weekend in the women’s 4x100m relay, along with Bath team-mates Olivia Caesar, Ciara Flannery and Risqat Fabunmi-Alade.
Caesar was also part of the 4x400m relay team which won silver, joined by 400m hurdles finalist Alex Hill, Amy Jaramazovic and McAslan.
And there was a surprise bronze medal for the men’s 4x100m relay team of Ben Pearson, Peter Oliver, Olawore and King.
