Jocelyn Ulyett smashes BUCS championship record in style

More than 6,000 student athletes descended on the Steel City this weekend for three action-packed days of university and college sport.

With nine sports being contested, in seven different venues, the event – now in its fifth year – is the largest annual multi-sport event in the country.

Swimming for Loughborough University, Ulyett touched the wall in 2:27.5 to set a new championship record, and the 21-year-old Geography and Business student could not believe how quick she had swam.

“It feels absolutely amazing because we’re all in such a hard block of training at the moment coming out of Christmas,” she said.

“Also I’ve had an injury, so it’s really good to have produced a time like that. “I had tendonitis in my knee in September, and then I recovered in December, so I’ve only been back in the pool a few months.

“I hit it hard in the gym while I was out of the pool, so it’s all paying off.”

There was no catching cross country regular Murray, either, with the Luton native clocking 9:26.35 to take 3000m gold by nearly ten seconds.

The Bedford & County athlete had cruised through to the final, only having to run 10:21.59 to win her heat, before cranking up the pressure on her opponents to set an unstoppable pace in Sunday’s showdown.

“I feels really good to be an indoor BUCS Nationals champion,” said the 22-year-old.

“It was my first ever indoor competition so I’m really happy it went well and I enjoyed it.

“I was feeling confident but I knew that it was really going to be hard race – there are a lot of good girls there.

“I didn’t know what to expect at all and I haven’t tested myself over anything like 3km for a long time so it’s quite a surprise, but I knew I was in good shape.”

British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the national governing body for Higher Education (HE) sport in the UK, organising leagues and competitions for more than 150 institutions across 52 different sports.

BUCS Nationals is the UK’s largest annual multi-sport event, bringing over 6,000 athletes to Sheffield to compete in 9 sports