Six students from the University of Bristol have received outstanding results in national sporting events across the country and abroad in rugby, hockey, athletics and rowing.
Rugby
Tom Mitchell, a student in the Department of English, was one of twelve players selected from 200 universities to play for the British Universities squad in the World University Rugby Sevens Championship, held this week [21 to 24 July] in Porto, Portugal.
Simon Hinks, Acting Director, Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health, said: "This is an outstanding achievement, Tom has had an excellent season for Bristol University and is fully deserving of his place. The Centre’s staff are also pleased that the work they have done to support him has been rewarded by his selection. We believe that the additional strength and conditioning expertise provided by Dave Rowland and the excellent coaching provided by James Farndon’s team has helped Tom reach his full potential."
Hockey
Georgie Twigg, a student in the School of Law and Charlotte Craddock, a student in the School of Geographical Sciences, both represented England at the Women's Hockey Champions Trophy, held in Nottingham last week.
The England team beat Argentina (2:1), China (2:1), lost to Netherlands (0:3) and went on to beat Germany (2:1) and win the Bronze medal.
Georgie said: "Our first match was against Argentina (second in the world) and I was thrilled to be selected to play, and also to receive my first senior England cap. To get bronze at the Champions Trophy was a fantastic achievement and I'm so happy I was part of the team. I now have five full England caps to go with the two GB caps.”
Further information and photos can be viewed on the England Hockey website.
Athletics
Claire Hallissey, a PhD student in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology, finished in second place with a time of 33 minutes 23 seconds in the Women's 10,000-metres race at the UK Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
Claire is at the top senior level in UK athletics and has the two fastest 10,000 metre times run by a female UK track athlete in the past year and won the Bristol Half Marathon in 2009.
Claire said: “Overall I was pleased with my performance as it was my first serious track race of the summer. Ideally, I would have liked to have ran in quicker time but given the hot and windy weather conditions, I decided to concentrate on winning the silver medal.”
Lawrence Clarke, a student in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, won the bronze medal in the men’s 110-metres hurdles race with a time of 13.75 seconds.
Rowing
Ben Bathhurst, a student in the School of Biological Sciences, has been selected to represent Great Britain in the 2010 World University Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary. Ben will be joining the team to compete against crews from 27 other nations.