Loughborough athletes take gold at World University Cross Country

The short-course relay team went from 3rd to 1st in the last leg of the race.

Loughborough students have won gold at the World University Cross Country Championships in Muscat, Oman.

The Loughborough runners joined with Birmingham students to take mixed relay gold.

In the short course relay the team comprised of Loughborough’s Alex Melloy, Beth Morley, Tia Wilson and Birmingham’s Tyler Bilyard, with Morley moving the team from 3rd to 1st in the last leg, overhauling a 70m lead from South Africa.

The following day saw further success for Morley as she came 3rd in the individual short course event, with Wilson in 6th and Emily Parker taking 15th place, leading to an overall team gold.

Loughborough’s Head of Endurance, Kyle Bennett, said: “This was a great performance from the Loughborough students. It’s really encouraging to see that we have athletes in this team who have only just moved up from the Junior age group and still have more time at Loughborough to develop as elite athletes.

“I want to give a special thank you to the athletics support practitioner team, especially physiology, who helped with the heat acclimatisation for the temperatures the athletes faced in Oman, which made a huge difference in tough conditions. A real team effort all around.”