The Lucy Cavendish College student ran 16min 16sec in the 5,000m at the Varsity Match to break the previous best by more than 15 seconds, and win the award for the women’s best performance.

Bea lowered her personal best to 16.05 at a Birmingham Open Race in June, having previously finished fourth in the women’s 5,000m, and second in the under-23 category, at the BUCS Championships.

She set a personal best of 9.16 in the 3,000m at Watford. In the cross country, Bea ran the fastest under-23 as Cambridge & Coleridge AC finished fourth at the National XC Relay Championships, and was second in the age bracket at the British Cross Challenge in Cardiff.

She helped Cambridge earn a historic gold medal at the BUCS XC Championships, taking fifth overall and third under-23, and was eighth overall and first under-23 at the National XC Championships.

“UCAPP has been a defining feature of my life in Cambridge,” said Bea. “It has been an invaluable asset to my sporting career, and by extension, has facilitated my academic journey too. Without it, I wouldn’t have received the brilliant physio attention and expertise I did when injuries arose; I wouldn’t have followed a structured S&C programme; I wouldn’t have met and trained with as many like-minded athletes and coaches as I did; and I ultimately wouldn’t have felt anything like as supported in my sport by the university."

“The sports centre facilities are beautiful and top quality, the coaches blend inspiration with helpful constructive critique, and the lovely events on offer provide really appreciated opportunities to recognise that Cambridge, as it is, really is an elite sporting institution as well as a top academic place."

“UCAPP has taught me things I will take forward in my running career, and I have my academic success to thank for it too. It centralised training, nutrition, physio and S&C, crucial aspects of sport, which in a less supportive university would definitely have been more haphazard and less focussed.”