Hello!
Another week, another blog – it must be Christmas!! I have had the privilege of attending BUCS Nationals this weekend, getting to see over 100 of our student athletes in action. After a somewhat stressful coach journey up to the wet weather of Sheffield last Friday, I settled into a lovely little apartment, which was only a short bus journey away from Ponds Forge – where I started my support for our teams. Armed with a photographer and two sport execs by my side, our mission was to get as much content as possible and try to highlight the excellence of our students.
Our first stop was to view our magnificent swimmers, a sport which I found to be very therapeutic, I found you can spend hours watching heats of different swimming styles in the heat of the poolside. After seeing a good amount of Bath people make their way through their heats successfully, we stepped over to Karate- a sport I had never seen before in person, and it was a spectacle. I was not sure on what to expect, but I found that Karate was full of true artistry, and with someone well timed shocking chants, the sport was also a very enjoyable watch.
Next stop was the English Institute, where we managed to view badminton and athletics, yet again watching Bath athletes show their performative excellence. There is something so warming and joyful watching your university compete, and every time I saw a bath athlete on the court, track, or pitch – I get an overwhelming sense of pride to belong at the same university, and in the same SU.
Over to the fencing- and what a busy venue! Bouts of fencing were happening everywhere, wherever you looked there would always be an intense match on! I have started really enjoying over the year and having been involved in promoting the inclusion of the sport with the arrival of the SwordSeat, I was very happy to go over and see their chair, Connor win his first Sabre match 15-14 in spectacular fashion. We also saw a medallist in fencing, our very own Ezgi Kocer with a bronze in Women’s Sabre – it was a very heavily contested tournament, so this is a remarkable achievement.
Our last stop on Saturday was the Climbing Works- which was all the way on the other side of Sheffield! Bouldering is a hobby of mine, so seeing people that are very clearly much better than me traverse these difficult climbs also proved to be very enjoyable. Remarkable feats of strength and endurance!
Of course, I could not end the day off without seeing some finals! A gold for Josh Gammon in the 50m Butterfly was well deserved, and with many more silvers and bronzes- especially in the Swimming- Bath were beginning to show their true blue and gold! I especially enjoyed the bronzes in both the men’s and women’s 400m team freestyles- teamwork is truly a magical thing.
The Sunday was also just as magical, watching all the sports yet again, making my way through the rainy weather of Sheffield to support all our students. Another gold medal for Josh Gammon? Obviously. He then proceeded to get one more along with Matthew Ward, William Godsell and Callum Baker in the 400m team medley, well done- I am very proud of all of you. Other special mentions go to Hendrick Van Der Leest for his silvers in 200m Backstroke and Butterfly, Jack Skerry for his silver in the 100m Backstroke, Niamh Ward for her silver in 50m Backstroke and Cam Brooker for his silver in 50m backstroke. Congratulations from everyone here at the SU.
Across the city in the English Institute, I had the pleasure of watching Luke Ball- a man who I am now convinced can jump over anything, no matter how high! Winning BUCS gold in the high jump with a height of 2.14m – having never seen high jump in person- this seemed absurd to me, so a massive congratulations! There was also so many other bronzes and silvers, including an incredible 800m bronze from Basil Rock, so well done to all these athletes- I hope you are as proud of yourselves as I am of you.
The mascot race on Sunday was also a highlight. Seeing our Duck Norris run down the track against a dragon, a cow and a lion seems like a fever dream, but after the struggles of getting Duck Norris to Sheffield (he may have missed his coach), it was all worth it in the end. He came 4th in his heat out of 5 so definitely needs some training for Varsity but he was best dressed.
I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to all the students who attended the nationals- you have all represented Bath so well and I cannot wait to see how we do next year.