BUCS glory for Jess Bailey and Tomer Tarragano – AW

Student cross-country runners help give University of Birmingham a day to remember in Cardiff

Jess Bailey and Tomer Tarragano sealed victory in the blue ribbon long-course races at the British University and Colleges (BUCS) Championships in Cardiff on Saturday (Feb 1).

The University of Birmingham duo were joined on the winners’ podium by team-mate Eleanor Strevens, who finished first in the women’s short-course race.

The West Midlands university didn’t have it entirely their own way, though, as the women’s long-course team title went to Cambridge, while Jack Small led Loughborough to men’s short-course gold.

On a grey February afternoon on the Blackweir Fields section of the city’s Bute Park, the atmosphere crackled with students hooting horns, ringing cow bells or simply screaming their encouragement.

BUCS rarely fails to fizzle and, as is now tradition, many runners wore face paint. Female athletes had ribbons in the colour of their university. Some had even dyed their hair the appropriate colour, including one Edinburgh student who also raced in a kilt.

“It’s by far the loudest race you’ll ever run,” said Tarragano. “This also might be the loudest BUCS I’ve done and this is my fourth now.

“The crowds are insane. It was also a perfect spectator course. As a team we played it cool and calculated and didn’t let it faze us then I let loose in the last 2km.”

Tarragano won a hotly contested men’s long-course race by two seconds from Louis Small of Loughborough with Tarragano’s team-mate Ollie Smart replicating his third place of last year.

Birmingham long-course winners

In fourth was Jared Ward, an American who is now at the University of Oxford at the ripe age of 36. A class act, Ward finished sixth in the Olympic marathon in 2016 and was in contention throughout in Cardiff until Tarragano let rip in the final few hundred metres.

“Being together for most of the race made it more exciting and added to the tension,” said Tarragano, who will now head indoors to tackle 3000m at the UK Indoor Championships.

Jared Ward (1535) (BUCS Sport)

Ward said: “I gave it everything. As a team we put our hearts out there and gave it a go and it wasn’t a perfect day for us but what a day.

“This is the closest thing to US cross country that I’ve run but it’s still very ‘English cross country’. This had a little bit of everything. The crowd was amazing. My Oxford team-mates were all over the course.

“I was listening to the breathing of myself and the runners around me with a lap to go and by my assessment we were all at or near oxygen debt and then it was a battle of strength toward the end.”

The veteran distance runner acknowledged the age gap between himself and his competitors, too. “I bet there are more athletes here that are younger than half of my age here than there are within five years of my age! So I am a ‘little’ on the older side.”

How did an American marathon man in his 30s end up at the BUCS Champs? “I’ve had a fun running career, mainly on the roads, but I decided to pivot to the next phase for our family and part of that involved business school out here in Oxford. And it gave the opportunity to do this race, which I found really fun.”

Jess Bailey (BUCS Sport)

At the opposite end of the age spectrum, 18-year-old Bailey stormed to victory in the women’s long-course race. In the absence of 2024 winners Will Barnicoat and Amelia Quirk, it means there are now two new names on the roll of honour.

“It was definitely a step into the unknown,” said Bailey. “I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d never raced as far as 8km before but I really enjoyed it in the end.”

With her face daubed in Birmingham colours and with ribbons in her hair, she added: “There’s no one better at team support than Birmingham. About 140 of us came down on coaches and there were even more who travelled on the train.”

So why are Birmingham enjoying such success lately on the student scene? “They focus on the community and the club as a whole and not just the top few,” explained Bailey, who is originally from Cumbria. “They bring everyone up and you then end up getting so many coming through.

“It’s so positive and encouraging and they also take a cautious approach to training. And once you have a few people doing well, the rest follow through.”

Next for Bailey is 3000m at the UK Indoor Champs. “It’s just a bit of fun and I plan to enjoy it,” she said. “Then I’m going to Font Romeu and am really excited about it.”

Birmingham team-mate Poppy Tank was runner-up, seven seconds behind Bailey, with Mia Waldmann of St Mary’s in third, a further four seconds back.

In fourth and fifth, Niamh Bridson Hubbard and Bea Wood led Cambridge to team gold with their team-mate Poppy Craig-McFeely in eighth.

Women’s long-course podium

Women’s short-course winner Strevens has a fine track pedigree and she looked at home on this flat and twisty course in Cardiff as she beat Birmingham team-mates Alice Bates and Hannah Blundy to the finish.

The sweep of the medals gave Birmingham team gold and Strevens said: “I loved it and wanted to do another lap. I tried to stick with Alice and Hannah as they’re strong runners and then about halfway I picked it up and let the atmosphere carry me through.”

On her Birmingham experience so far, she added: “The coaches are incredible and we have such a generally supportive team. It makes you want to train all the time. It’s so enjoyable.”

Loughborough aren’t easily going to give up their traditional mantle of kings and queens of the British student athletics scene, though.

Jack Small not only won the men’s short-course race but led Loughborough to the team title. “I executed it pretty well. I was looking out for my coach and being really aware of where I am in the race,” he said.

Small won the same race last year in Leeds but is still only a second year graphic design student. Will he go for title No.3 next year? “Maybe but I’d love to get a run in the A race,” he said.

First of all, he heads to Armagh this month for the annual 5km road race.

Full results here.

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