It was not a sunny Saturday when more than a hundred teams started collectively arriving at the far end of the serpentine lake in Hyde Park: clouds threatened the so far dry weekend. The spirits of the runners were not dampened and they kept arriving ready to run the 60 year old race.
Teams of six runners, each of which would be doing 5 km, could be seen stretching, jogging and deliberating next to the start line. Further ahead the women's teams, consisting of four runners to do 3 km each, also huddled keen to begin the course. No-one felt out of place; teams of very serious individuals from all sorts of places in the world warmed up alongside individuals who were simply aiming to finish.
The atmosphere was pumping and all the runners just keen to start racing; there could not have been a better time for 14:00 to arrive. The womens' race started 5 minutes later with a different course to follow, and it too saw the intrepid runners dash off to a great start.
It was a race for all, as the start/finish line saw teams coming in at all kinds of times. The fastest team and emergent winner was "St Mary's University College A", with a time of 1h 38m 54s. The victorious female team was "University of Birmingham A" with a total time of 47m 28s. Ben Moreau from "Oxford University A" was the fastest overall runner in a time of 15m 11s.
Overall a day for everyone to enjoy and have fun, as some of the teams demonstrated. In particular Fisher Hall B team which decided to add the addition of a flag as baton and the downing of a pint on the start and the end of each leg for effect.
An enjoyable day of sport which I recommend to all not to miss next year.
Top 5 Results
Men:
- St Mary's University College A (98.54)
- Nottingham University A (101.24)
- 14 AC A (102.28)
- Oxford University A (103.36)
- Cambridge University A (103.36)
Women:
- University of Birmingham A (47.28)
- St Mary's University College A (49.52)
- Sheffield Hallam University (51.26)
- Cambridge University A (52.15)
- Oxford University A (52.23)
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