2017 BUCS SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, November 10th – Sunday, November 12th
- Ponds Forge, Sheffield
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It was distance night at Ponds Forge to kick-off the 207 British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Short Course Championships, with the women contesting the 800m freestyle and the men trying the 1500m event on for size. Both events saw new faces take the top of the podium, with Loughborough and Stirling taking one individual win apiece.
For the women, 18-year-old Abbie Wood led a Loughborough sweep of the 800m, taking the BUCS title in 8:27.20. Right behind was teammate Alice Dearing, who notched 8:28.41 to collect her 3rd consecutive silver medal in the event. Brearnna Close finished in 8:38.07 to round out the podium.
The 1500m saw the ever-versatile Duncan Scott hit the wall first, collecting the points for University of Stirling in a winning time of 15:14.78. Scott, who was a two-time silver medalist at the 2016 Olympic Games and also landed on the podium at the 2017 World Championships, is not exactly a stranger to this grueling event. Last year at this same meet the 20-year-old finished 5th in the race, clocking a time slightly faster than what he produced tonight with 15:14.02.
Stirling also scored bigtime in the men’s 200m freestyle relay, taking the 1st and 3rd place positions in respective times of 1:29.39 and 1:31.03. Loughborough, who is looking for its 14th consecutive trophy, split the Stirling squads with a silver medal-garnering mark of 1:29.41. Last year, no relay clocked a time beneath the 1:31 barrier.
Edinburgh was able to edge out Loughborough in the women’s edition of the race, with the former stopping the clock in 1:41.64 to the latter’s 1:41.90 for the win. Stirling still place, albeit more than 2 seconds behind in 1:45.14.
Heats commence tomorrow at 9:30am local.