Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
BUCS Athletics - Outdoor Champs Results Round Up
This past weekend saw a tremendous turn out of our Leeds Beckett athletics team, who were named one of the loudest supporters of the day by commentator Alex Seftel. Not only this, but the team managed to bring home a bronze medal in the women’s 1500 metres, a silver medal in the women’s 400-metre hurdles, and a nail-biting fourth in both the 4x4 on the men’s and women’s sides.
Starting off the final day, we saw Josh Blevins and Abdi Darood take on the rest of the country’s top universities over 12.5 laps in the final of the 5k. After taking third place at the BUCS 10k just a few weeks prior, Abdi managed to chase down a quick field to finish 7th in 14:19, closely followed by teammate Josh, who finished 10th in 14:28. On the women’s side, Isla Patterson ran a fantastically measured race to finish fifth against a strong field in a PB of 16:44, and teammate Izzy Holt crossed the line just 30 seconds later in 17:14, in what was an awfully warm and sunny race.
To cool off from the blazing sun, James Salt and Henry Yelling took on 3000 metres worth of barriers and water jumps against a very strong Birmingham side. The pair finished ninth and tenth respectively, just a second apart, with James running a fantastic PB of 9:23 and Henry in 9:22.
Off the track, the field events were well under way, with third-year student Callie Evans clearing 1.63 in the women’s high jump final to place seventh overall. Decathlete Will Reid took on the long jump field, producing a best jump of 7.06 metres to place seventh against a field of specialists.
On the sprints side, second-year student Max Roe went over the hurdles for 110 metres, running a personal best in the final of 15.18 to place seventh in the competition. Bayleigh Lawton looked in fine form in the 400 metres to finish eighth in 49.72.
Although the highlights of the day must come from the medals. With a background in heptathlon, sports scholar Frances Hogg now specialises in the 400 hurdles, and rightly so. She stormed to silver in a blazing 59.63, making it a shiny new personal best and adding some more hardware to her collection after claiming silver at BUCS Outdoors 2025 in the discipline.
Accompanying Frances on the medal table, Poppy Elton ran a demanding race in the women’s 1500-metre final. She led an honest race from the front and kept the pace hot. In the final wind-up in the last 150 metres, she just slipped behind the Birmingham contender to finish third in a personal best time of 4:25. After three seasons of only advancing to the semi-finals, both indoors and outdoors, the team were pleased to see Poppy toe the start line of a final in her final race as a Leeds Beckett student.
A word from the head coach, Andrew Henderson:
“It was a great weekend at BUCS Outdoors performance-wise, but also made better with a great team spirit and a strong team ethic, as individuals always stepped in when needed in the relays. The team finished fourth in the women’s standings and 10th in the men’s, which, considering the competition, is a good overall performance for the team. It was really good to see the athletes enjoy themselves and come away with positives from performances, while also achieving their own individual goals.”
We wish the Leeds Beckett students graduating this summer the very best in their professional and academic endeavours, and the rest of the team a very successful remainder of their outdoor season.
Written by: Holly Graham. Leeds Beckett Journalism Student and Beckett Sport Marketing Ambassador.
Photos: Molly Davey. Leeds Beckett Sport Marketing Student.
Athletic Union
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