ARU students in BUCS Nationals action

Published: 2 March 2022 at 15:00

In late February, a team of ARU students travelled to BUCS Nationals in Sheffield.

This event is the largest annual multi-sport event in the UK and features the very best athletes from across UK universities, so the standard is always exceptionally high. This year we had students competing in indoor athletics, swimming and fencing.

Competing in the long course swimming at Ponds Forge were Sam Peck, Logan Chatterjea and Jack Mansfield (pictured).

Sam Peck is a third year Criminology student who trains with City of Cambridge SC and swam the 100m Butterfly, 200m Freestyle, and 200m Individual Medley.

Logan Chatterjea is a first year studying Sport Science and also trains with City of Cambridge SC. Logan swam the 50m Freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 100m Freestyle, achieving personal bests in each event.

Jack Mansfield is a first year studying Sport Coaching. He trains with Harlow Penguins Swimming Club, and swam 50m Breaststroke and 100m Breaststroke, where he achieved a long course personal best.

Competing in the indoor athletics, Holly Field who studies Criminology and Policing, competed in the Triple Jump while Sophie Cowper, who studies Medicine, competed in the 3,000m. Both athletes recorded season best performances in their events, but ultimately were unable to make their finals.

The strongest performances of the weekend came from our fencing competitors. Hannah Smyth, a second-year Biomedical Science student, competed in the Foil, while Vlad Cotorogea competed in the Sabre.

Seeded seventh overall, Hannah progressed comfortably through her pool matches before entering the knock-out section of the competition, where she eased through the first match before losing closely in the next round, achieving 11th overall.

Competing in a large field of over 140 athletes, Vlad also performed strongly in his pool, eventually losing in the knock-out stages and finishing 47th overall.