Cambridge University Hare and Hounds travelled to Cardiff last weekend for the British Universities Cross Country Championships with high expectations.  The frozen solid ground and extreme lack of hills didn’t resemble your typical cross country course, however neither this, nor the consistently falling snow, fazed the hardy light blue runners.

Following their fantastic Varsity victory in December and a 4th place team finish in 2011, the Cambridge men’s A team had high hopes of displaying their distance running pedigree against the rest of Britain’s institutions.  Over the 10.6 km race, the silver medallist from Varsity, Robin Brown was the first Cambridge finisher in 34th backed up by extremely decent performances in a very strong field from Will Ryle-Hodges (37th), Will Mackay (47th) and Tom Watkins (55th) to form the scoring quartet.  St Mary’s took the overall team title with Cambridge finishing in a very creditable 5th place; to walk away disappointed from finishing just outside the medals is testament to the team’s current strength and depth.

As the snow continued to flurry, the women were next to race over 7.4 km.  With several of Cambridge’s top female athletes missing due to illness and injury, the Light Blues were disadvantaged in the team stakes, however the spirit of the light blue ladies was unquestionable.  Individual highlights were Fiona Hughes finishing in a very solid 68th and Polly Keen’s 51st place in spite of many recent injury problems.

Last off was the Men’s 8.1 km B race (though the standard definitely defied the race title!) giving Cambridge ample opportunity to exhibit the depth within the club at the moment. Matt Grant made a very welcome return to racing after injury finishing in 34th place and leading the light blues home, with Cambridge’s B and C teams finished 12th and 20th respectively. Factoring in the multiple teams from St Mary’s and Loughborough, it was impressive to note that only 4 institutions were able to field a stronger second team than Cambridge on this day.