Man Met athletes triumph in the mud to lift two relay cups

Despite the lashing rain and mud, Man Met’s athletics team lifted the inaugural Varsity Relays Cup and the Overall Mixed Relay Trophy against rivals University of Manchester – securing their first and second trophy of the season so far.

Individual performances clinched the Overall Mixed Relay trophy for coach Steve Green’s runners, as MMU athletes took four of the five fastest leg times in the mixed relays.

James Wignall took first place with a time of 9mins 31secs, Leaha Pepleo came third in 9mins 45secs, Tom Rogerson came in fourth with 9mins 48secs, and Emily Bullis took fifth in 9mins 51secs.

Bullis and Pepleo also made the rankings for the fastest women in the relay, with Bullis placing 19th quickest overall and Pepleo 23rd fastest.

The competition was close and  rivalry fierce, especially in the team events. MMU Women’s A team posted an overall time of 35mins 42secs ahead of UoM’s 36mins 31secs.

The B team results were reversed: MMU’s 41mins 12secs was not enough to beat UoM’s time of 39mins 49secs. The Women’s C team victory also went to UoM with a winning margin of more than 12 minutes: 44mins 59secs against 57mins 02secs.

In the men’s team relays UoM edged MMU into second place. The UoM A team finished 18th with an overall time of 1hr 2mins 27secs, while MMU A trailed four minutes behind in 39th spot.

UoM B team came 52nd with a time of 1hr 14m 53secs while MMU were five places lower, 57th, with a time of 1hr 18m.

But MMU had enough to clinch their second trophy of the year by winning the additional 1st mixed team overall.

MMU athletics head coach Steve Green said: “This was an historic achievement and congratulations to all our athletes. It was a marvellous team performance from everyone and I’m delighted that we are the first ever Varsity Cross Country Relay Cup winners.”