A round-up of the second day of BUCS action in Bedford

Most of the excitement on day two of the BUCS Championships surrounded the presence of Adam Gemili (East London) in the men s 100m final and the London 2012 Olympian did not disappoint.

The man who went sub-20 for 200m last year cruised through the gears to clock 10.32 for a fine 100m victory, with Adeseye Ogunlewe (Essex) and Ben Shields (Sheffield Hallam) taking the minor medals in 10.58 and 10.67 respectively.

The women s 100m saw Rachel Johncock (Loughborough) take top spot in 11.66, with BUCS indoor 60m champion Marilyn Nwawulor (Middlesex) second in 11.83 and Mica Moore (Cardiff Met) third in 11.94.

Jonny Hay (Birmingham) took victory in the longest event on the track, stopping the clock at 30:29.07, but it was not without controversy. Many athletes missed the start due to the fact that BUCS made a late decision to run the A and B races at the original B race time, which was two hours before the scheduled A race start time. Hay himself was eating his sandwiches in the team tent when he found out that he should be in call-up, so had no time to warm up, but fortunately made it to the startline in time.

“I had checked the board when I arrived and it was still showing an A and B race. They must have made the decision very late on and also not voiced the change loud enough. I think it caught a lot of people off guard,” said Hay.

“I usually eat two hours before, but ended up having to go to call up immediately after eating and my calves took more of a battering than they would have done if I had been able to warm up. It also affected how I ran the race, as I decided I had better take it out and get a few consistent laps in to get warm. Fortunately I still managed to come away with victory,” added Hay, who will now race a couple of 1500m races and the Westminster Mile for some speed, while sitting his third-year Chemistry exams. After this, he will turn his attention to the 5000m and trying to achieve the qualifying time for the European Championships and Commonwealth Games.

The in-form Chris Bannon (Imperial) took silver and Ben Russell (Liverpool) bronze.

Last year s European junior silver medallist Jazmin Sawyers (Bristol) won the long jump with 6.17m, but with a PB of 6.67m, the former world youth bobsleigh silver medallist was less than pleased with the distance.

“I think I scared a few people in qualifying, including myself, as I had two fouls and then took off miles behind the board on my third,” explained law student Sawyers.

“In the final I was much more consistent and I am pleased to win, as I was second last year, but I had hoped to go a lot further. I m aiming to qualify for the Commonwealth Games or European Championships this summer, but I have a lot of work to do before that. I m currently not doing any bobsleigh, but I haven t ruled that out,” added the multi-talented athlete.

Other finals included Daniel Gardner (Loughborough) taking victory in the pole vault with 5.00m, Alan Toward (Northumbria) taking his first BUCS title with 53.11m to win the discus and David Smith (Strathclyde) winning the high jump with 2.16m.

Ahead of the finals tomorrow, the women s 800m is shaping up to be one of the races of the Championships, with last year s BUCS indoor champion Katie Snowden (Nottingham) going head-to-head with last year s silver medallist Hanna Tarver (Cambridge) and BUCS indoor 1500m champion Sophie Tyers (Loughborough).

The women s 400m also promises to be a high quality affair, with Loughborough trio Amy Allcock, Emma Pullen and Jessie Knight facing strong opposition from Zoey Clark (Aberdeen) and Sere Bundy-Davies (Manchester).

Gemma Kersey (Middlesex) qualified fastest for the 1500m final, while James Thie (Cardiff Met) will attempt to beat his younger rivals once again in the men s 1500m, but will be challenged by semi-final winner Jonathan Cook (Cambridge).

Isobel Pooley (Nottingham Trent) goes for a fourth consecutive BUCS title in the high jump, while Roy Ejiakuekwu (Manchester Met) Antonio Infantino (King s) and Jordan Kirby-Polidore (Loughborough) lead the charge in men s 200m.

See next week’s AW for in-depth BUCS coverage including reports, pictures and results

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