Alexander Bampton
Sport: Athletics / Cross Country
Course: Leonard Wolfson PhD programme in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Ambition:
Season aim: BUCS Cross Country top 8 finish
Season aim: Edge closer to a sub 2.20 marathon
Work towards the World University half marathon qualifying time (65.00)
Represent England over the half marathon and marathon distances
Sporting Achievements:
Represented England (Senior Men's) at the Rennes International 10k road race this October.
20th (non-elite) at the 2019 London Marathon on debut in 2:24 making me the youngest athlete in the UK top 40 rankings.
22nd at the 2019 Great North Run (7th Brit).
11th at the England 10,000m championships.
Bio:
I am a PhD student in neurodegeneration studying mechanisms of disease in frontotemporal dementia and motor neuron disease alongside my sporting endeavours as an elite distance athlete. I have run competitively for over 10-years now and began taking the sport much more seriously during my undergraduate (University of Birmingham) and masters (University of Oxford) years.
Over the past 12-months I have made the decision to step up to the marathon which has helped push me to adopt a more mature and disciplined approach to training. I have been rewarded this season not just over the marathon but also over the shorter distances too culminating in being awarded my first national vest this autumn. I have big ambitions for my running here at UCL on the road, cross-country and track with an ultimate aim to qualify for the next World University Games (half marathon). In the short term, I'm really excited to see what UCL can do over the mud at BUCS cross country 2020 - we potentially have the strongest team the university has ever had so could definitely be the ones to watch!