Athletes may only compete in one race at the championships.

Captains must declare a team for the Men’s Long Race and Women's Long Race.

Women’s Short Race 

• Distance: 6,060 metres
• Start time: 11:30
• 2 small laps, 1 big lap
• This race is for all women not competing in the Long Race.

Men’s Short Race

• Distance: 8,280 metres
• Start time: 12:15
• 1 small lap, 2 big laps
• This race is for all men not competing in the Long Race.

Women’s Long Race

• Distance: 8,280 metres
• Start time: 13:15
• 1 small lap, 2 big laps
• FOUR athletes per institution may compete in the Women's Long Race.

Men’s Long Race

• Distance: 10,500 metres
• Start time: 14:15
• 3 big laps
• SIX athletes per institution may compete in the Men’s Long Race.

Small and big lap details can be seen on the course map.

PLEASE NOTE: When you collect your captain pack from the registration desk, the race declaration forms will be in there for you to complete.

Please complete the Race Declaration forms in race number numerical order: E.g. 101, 105, 107, 109, 111.

The last time to declare athletes is 12:00 for the Women's declaration and 12:00 for the Men's declaration.

Registration will begin at 08:30 and close at 12:00. The registration desk will be located in the Event Village. This is indicated on the site map.

Teams for the Long Race must be declared by 12:00. Any teams not declared by this time / any athlete not declared on this sheet will be subject to immediate disqualification.

Students should bring their University ID cards with them to the event. 

A warning will be given ten minutes before the start of each race. Team Managers must marshal their teams to the start line at the time of the ten-minute warning. All races will start at the stated times unless the race referee deems a minor delay is necessary due to the overrunning of previous races.

Each university will only be allowed one athlete on the front row of the start, though there will likely not be space for every university to have one university on the front row. This will be enforced by the Marksmen and Race Referee.

There will be coach and car parking available at Pembrey Country Park. Please follow the signage and marshals instructions to the correct car park.

• Cars in Archery Field.
• All Buses / Coaches to park in the 5 large car parks by the beach.
• Please do not park by the ski centre.

Disabled parking spaces are available in all Pembrey Country Park car parks. Please speak to a marshal for more information.

Pembrey Country Park operates an ANPR system. You will need to ensure you have either paid for parking in advance or pay at one of the on-site pay stations before leaving the park.

Pembrey Country Park has a Vehicle Number Plate Registration (ANPR) barrier system in place.

On arrival:

• Drive up to barrier which will open automatically. If it does not open press for a ticket and barrier will open.
• Payments must be made before leaving at any of the 4 pay stations situated at: Beach Entrance, Ski & Activity Centre & Log Cabin before exiting the park.
• The are no pay stations at the exit barrier. If you drive to the barrier without paying, you will not be able to exit and will need to reverse and go back and pay.
• Car parking charges are £3.00 up to 2 hours or £4.00 all day.
• All pay stations are clearly marked and will accept card, contactless and cash payments.
• You can pre-pay your parking online before arriving at the park (this must be 90 minutes or more before entering): https://www.pembreycountrypark.wales/parking-annual-parking-permits/

Coach/Car parking and pay station locations are indicated on the site map below:

Chips are within the ankle tags which will be collected by Captains at Registration. If you lose your race number, you will not be able to compete.

Lap times will be recorded. You must run under your published number or you will be disqualified. Race numbers are displayed on the entry list which will be published shortly.

All runners are required to wear their race numbers on their front.

1. No institution will count in the Team Events unless all scoring runners finish.

2. Team points will be calculated by adding together the placing of each scoring member. The team with the lowest number of points will be named the Team Champions. E.g. 2nd, 10th and 15th = 27 points.

3. “Scoring members” will be the first scoring runners past the finish line (first 4 in the Men’s races and first 3 in the Women’s race). These scorers do not need to be identified in advance.

4. In the event of a tie on points in the team competition a “countback” will take place with the position of the last counted finishers (4th in the Men’s races and 3rd in the Women’s race) for each team compared.

5. In the Men’s Long and Women’s races only one team per institution can be counted in the team competition.

6. In the Men’s Short and Women's Short Races, medals will be awarded to the top 3 teams irrespective of whether these teams are from the same institution.

7. Team medals will only be awarded to scoring runners (first 4 athletes from a university in Men’s races and first 3 in Women’s race).

There is a zero tolerance on alcohol at this event. There is strictly no alcohol permitted on site and any found will be confiscated. Any breach of this will result in disciplinary action.

These championships will run under the BUCS General Regulations and UK Athletics Rules of Competition. The sport specific regulations can be found here. It is important to note the regulations surrounding student’s behaviour. These have been breached in previous years resulting in £650 fines and 2 year suspensions from BUCS Cross Country Events. These sanctions have been handed out in previous years for behaviours such as streaking, consumption of alcohol on site and running under someone elses name.

Universities are reminded of BUCS Regulation 5.1.2. ‘REG 5.1.2 The consumption of alcohol or recreational drugs (in addition to substances covered under REG 4.5) will not be tolerated. Competitors at any event or fixture found to be consuming such substances will be automatically disqualified and may face further disciplinary action under this regulation.’

Any updates will be posted on the BUCS website and will be communicated to your Institution.

Weather Notice:
Please plan for all weather situations. Please dress appropriately for all weather conditions and ensure you bring a change of dry clothes. When you have finished your race, ensure you keep moving to stay warm. Make sure you drink enough fluids throughout the day. 

Race presentations will be held at 15:45/15:50 in the Event Village near to the Registration desk.

Medals will be available for the first three runners in the Men’s and Women’s Long races. Team medals are also available for the top three teams in the Men’s (first four finishers combined positions) and Women’s Long race teams (first three finishers combined positions).

BUCS Points will be available for the top four finishers in the Men's and Women's Long Race. BUCS Points will also be available for the top 8 Men's and Women's Overall Team from the Long Race.

Refreshments 

There will be a food van available on the site.

Merchandise

Click here to view the New Balance BUCS Cross Country 2023 merchandise.

Facilities

There will be portable toilets for athletes and spectators to use in the Event Village.

There are no changing/showering facilities available at this event.

Please ensure that ALL gazebos are safely secured to the ground. Please note the ground will be extremely muddy!

Please note the set-up of gazebos is weather dependent. We ask for your cooperation on this matter if you are asked to not set them up / take them down.

The course will be run on open parkland fields with woodland path sections.

Cross country spikes (9mm) or Trail shoes are appropriate for this event.