Saturday 9th Feb 2008 saw the 60th Hyde Park Relays, hosted by Imperial College Cross Country Club on a glorious day in the unsurprisingly location of Hyde Park. The format was, as ever, two separate races - a 5k loop for the men and mixed teams and a 3k loop for the women, with both routes taking in the sites around the Serpentine lake, before heading back to the changeover points near the bandstand.
The race was attended by around 130 teams, including 95 in the mens/mixed race with foreign runners coming from all over Europe including Poland, Holland and Italy. Along with domestic teams from all over the UK, the majority was made up of runners from our very own Imperial College, making up a third of the men's teams and a quarter of the women's.
The race was won by Oxford Univerity in a time only 90 seconds outside the new course record, having shared the lead at times with Bristol Univeristy and last year's winners St Mary's College. In the women's race, Sheffield Hallam finished as shock winners with a rapid final leg runner just beating a formidable St Mary's team. In the internal competition, Beit Hall once again ran out as winners for the third year in a row, nearly a minute in front of the next team. Due to a results error, they were not awarded the title on the day, but everything has since been rectified (sorry guys!). While in the female race, Lucica Geosin dominated finishing well ahead of the second team. Internally, the fastest man was Sam O'Neill thundering around for Wilson House with 17:11 with rumours that he may have stopped for an Ice Cream on route, and fastest women was Erica Thompson in 13:58.
After the race runners were invited back to the SCR to enjoy an excellent selection of hot food on offer, including spaghetti bolognese, jacket potatoes, muffins and doughnuts - a perfect way to follow a hard run on a hot winters day! The day was wrapped up with a packed union, and a lot of foreigners showing off their dance moves that they really should have left behind!
Results from the day can be found on the website.
We hope everyone that took part enjoyed themselves and will be back next year, even fitter and faster!
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