Imperial host Hyde Park Relays

On Saturday 7th February, more than 600 runners from universities across the UK, the Netherlands and Poland took part in the Hyde Park Relays, hosted by Imperial College Cross Country and Athletics Club. Teams comprised of 6 men or 4 women each running a lap of the 5 km course, beginning by the Serpentine and looping clockwise up to Marble Arch and returning to the bandstand.

The likes of Cambridge, Oxford, Portsmouth, Manchester and many of the London Colleges sent teams to compete, and were joined by over 150 students of Imperial College taking on the challenge themselves.

At 12 noon, Club Captain Matt Douthwaite started the race with a welcome and a blast of the whistle, and the leg one runners took off down the opening straight led by some pretty big names in the running world and some more excitable internal runners.

Chris Bannon, one of the main organisers of the event, was first up for the Imperial Men’s A-Team, hoping to defend his 2 year title of fastest leg at the event, but faced stiff competition from Cambridge runners who’d lined up some of their best.

Also on the start line was Imo Simmonds running for the Imperial Women’s A team, backed up by the full scoring team who placed 8th in BUCS XC seven days earlier, so hopes were high for a medal.

Once underway, the race moved fast. Bannon and Short jostled for 1st place at the front. The hundreds of other runners sailed past, not only IC Cross Country and Athletics, but also Imperial students with all manner of points to prove and a hilarious range of fancy dress costumes. Spotted outfits included superheroes, gentleman dressed in a bra and hot pants and Braveheart-style tartan robes.

Unfortunately, Cambridge were first at the end of leg one 12 seconds ahead of Bannon, who ran 14:33! He handed the bat over to Chris Olley to charge down the Cambridge team. He ran a time of 14:47, extremely impressive. Over in the Women’s race, Imo had handed over to Sarah Johnson, who went on to run one of the legs of the day with 17:16. The mass of teams around the bandstand created a fantastic atmosphere and some spectators ventured out onto the course to provide support for their runners.

The Imperial Men’s A’s were still holding on tight with pressure from Sheffield and Oxford too. A third Chris (Thomas) but in a strong run to keep them in the game following David Freeman, and handing on to Simon Prigent and finally James Ellis. The Women’s A’s were also battling away and with great runs from fresher’s Alex Mundell and Kara Meunier with 18:03 and 20:00 respectively.

The Men’s B Team Boyz had impressive performances from Tom Bartissol and Dom Marshall, both pushing 17 minutes. Notable runs in the Men’s Chuckles and Dangerzone Team’s were Marcus Ingram and Alex Diaz, both with fastest legs for their teams. In the Women’s, the ICXC Gazelles were led home by Marta Sawicka in 20:18.

After all the excitement of the relays were over, the teams headed for the Jacket Potatoes and prize giving. The competition in the end turned out too strong for the Men’s A team, who placed 4th by just 12 seconds, beaten out by Cambridge, Oxford and Sheffield, despite Bannon’s effort awarding him second fastest leg of the day. The girls had fared better, placing 3rd overall, behind Cambridge and Oxford once again, thanks to the storming run from Johnson, awarding her 3rd fastest woman. In other categories, the Polish University of Poznan beat the Dutch to fastest foreign team and Fisher Hall won the Halls prize.

Afterwards came the after party in the union. The Hyde Park Relays Horn made an appearance, sounding off the celebratory drinks for the organisers, Chris Bannon and Will Jones. A massive thank you to them for working incredibly hard to bring one of the smoothest HPRs in recent memory, as well as all the volunteers who helped out on the day. Notable moments of the night included the arrival of Portsmouth, with their fresher’s attached to melons to drink out of, some friendly drinking rivalry with Cambridge, some possible over celebration from a certain organiser and of course Taylor Swift.

Full results can be found at hydeparkrelays.co.uk. If you want to get involved look out for the event next year or email run@imperial.ac.uk.