2008 News
- News Archive
Steph Twell with Prof Richard Fisher (left) and coach Mick Woods (centre).
St Mary’s Athletes Dominate Euro Cross Country
Athletes from St Mary’s University College, Twickenham figured prominently at the recent SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Brussels. They accounted for a third of the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team who had an exceptional day, heading the medal table with a record breaking performance and winning an unprecedented 12 medals, including four gold.
Steph Twell, a student sports scholar at St Mary’s University College, ran impressively to win her third successive under 20 women’s title. She has become the first athlete to achieve this, and in the process helped the junior women’s team to gold. Steph, who narrowly missed out on a place in the Beijing 1500m final, led home the GB & NI athletes who took a clean sweep of the top six places. Charlotte Purdue and Emma Pallant, also coached by Mick Woods at the University College, backed up their fellow St Mary’s Endurance Performance Centre athlete to take 2nd and 5th respectively.
Mitch Goose, another St Mary’s University College student and sports scholar, was a member of the men’s Under 20 team that won bronze whilst fellow students Andy Vernon, Ben Lindsay (sports scholar) and Keith Gerrard all ran extremely well to gain gold for the Under 23 men’s team. Andy took the individual silver medal with Ben finishing in 4th position and Keith in 7th. Katherine Sparke, another student sports scholar, finished 7th in the women’s Under 23 race to help the team win gold.
In the senior women’s race, Hayley Yelling, a former University College student, was part of the team’s silver medal performance finishing in 19th place. The senior men’s race saw an exciting finish with Mo Farah, another former student, winning a silver medal and the team gaining bronze. Another Endurance Performance Centre athlete, Scott Overall, came in 39th whilst Mike Skinner, who trains at St Mary’s, had a good race to finish in 20th position.
Professor Richard Fisher, Head of St Mary’s 2012 Preparations, said: “At a time when the country is looking to rebuild its historically strong reputation for distance running, St Mary’s University College continues to demonstrate its terrific contribution to this process through its partnership with UK Athletics and the London Marathon.”
Andrew Reid-Smith, Director of Sport at the University College said: “St Mary’s University College athletes made a significant contribution to the squad and helped to gain ten of the twelve medals won. Arguably the best performance of the day was by Steph Twell. Sport St Mary’s has worked in partnership with UK Athletics and the English Institute of Sport to establish a high performance programme and it is great to see the athletes achieving at this level of competition.”
