LEEDS BECKETT
Established: 1824 (Leeds Mechanics Institute)
Colour(s): purple and black
Good results at the BUCS Cross Country Championships often breed good results for the indoors, so Alex Yee’s fantastic victory will surely have boosted preparations at Leeds Beckett. Club Captain Josh Schofield can bring you up to date…
Tell us about your uni and why it is great to compete for?
Leeds Beckett is located in the outer suburbs of Leeds. It is a fantastic training base for sprints and endurance with great facilities in the local area and some outstanding coaches such as: Andy Henderson, John Baron, Mick Hill and Andi Drake using the university as their training base.
We have a track and gym on campus as well as things such as the Meanwood Valley Trail and Leeds and Liverpool Canal giving our athletes a wide variety of training venues. One of the best things about competing for Leeds Beckett is how close the team is as a whole. This creates a great atmosphere at training, races, as well as bringing out a great social side to the club.
Leeds Beckett celebrate Cross Country success. Photo: LBUAthletics via instagram
What is your favourite thing about BUCS events?
One of my favorite things is the atmosphere at the events! Especially at the cross country, it sends shivers down your spine as you are running down the course and all of your team mates are screaming at you! The men’s B race is always brilliant with the race for the first corner being a particular highlight for everyone involved.
Can you give us your best memory of BUCS competition?
It has to be the craziest 800m race of all time at last years indoors where everyone in the race seemed to have the race lead at one point or another!
Who is the funniest or loudest member of your team and why?
The loudest member of our team has to be our Social Sec Beth Pringle! A typical geordie lass, she can be heard screaming from all corners of an athletics track! She also tells us she has great banter too…
Which athletes should we keep an eye out for?
Triathlete/Distance Runner (and BUCS Cross Country champion) Alex Yee has gone from being on a hospital bed to national champion in eight months! Alex is absolutely flying at the moment and it will be great to see what he can do.
WATCH: Alex Yee (@lixsanyee) takes the #BUCSXC title for @LBUAthletics ahead of Chris Olley & @EmileCairess @BUCSsport pic.twitter.com/CxC0S1lYqR
— Vinco (@VincoSport) February 3, 2018
Bronwen Owen has also had a strong winter with a top 20 at BUCS Cross last weekend. Other athletes to watch out for (generally) are race walkers Gemma Bridges and Callum Wilkinson who will be looking to head to the European Championships after the Commonwealth Games in the summer.
400m and 800m Runner Leah Barrow is also a new edition to the team and will be looking to get in the medals at BUCS Outdoors. Also watch out for hurdler Jack Major, 400m runner Nick Petrou and distance runners Matt Sheen and Danny Lawton who have all had huge winter seasons so far and will be looking to transfer that to the outdoors this year.
Which of the other universities would you say are your biggest rivals and what would you like to say to the competition?
Naturally our biggest rivals come in the form of the University of Leeds! We have had the bragging rights at Varsity for the past few years now, so they will no doubt be looking to push us this year! We would say that we might be a developing team, but don’t count us out!
Thanks Josh. The #BUCSNationals will be streamed live on runjumpthrow.com this Friday 16th February through until Sunday. Don’t forget to join us.
