Oriel student Charlotte Buckley wins BUCS Indoor 800m title

Buckley started as a casual athlete in primary school. “I ran for school sports days and was pretty good,” she recalled. “I joined a local club but didn’t really train when I was younger—I would just turn up for an occasional cross-country race. When you’re doing well at something, it’s easier to keep it up.”

Upon joining Oriel College, Buckley became eager to get more involved in athletics, attending a pre-season camp with the university cross-country group. “For a long time, I was good but not getting better,” Buckley explained. “Then last year I got a taste of success, winning silver at BUCS.” Motivated by this achievement, Buckley did not want to lose that momentum so committed to more rigorous training, aiming for bigger goals this season.

Buckley also received this year’s Vincent’s Club Sir Roger Bannister Award. Vincent’s Club supports outstanding Oxford scholar-athletes through its awards programme. “It is quite nice having the backing and financial support from Vincent’s Club,” Buckley said. “It takes off some of the pressure related to traveling to races and training and has definitely supported my progress.”

In addition to competing with the Athletics Blues and Cross-Country Blues teams, Buckley is completing her Biomedical Sciences degree. “I’m really enjoying my current research project, which investigates the role iron plays in immunity—specifically, whether blocking iron entry into cells could prevent their growth. It is a really exciting project,” she said. Buckley hopes to continue as a research assistant.

Buckley highlights that having sports as an escape is a good motivator in helping finish her course work, “You get on with the work more efficiently to be able to fit in everything you want to do.”

With running and science forming two central pillars of her life, Buckley is focused on balancing her ambitions in both fields: “I don’t know exactly what’s next, but science is really interesting and I would love to continue my research work. Athletically, I want to run fast enough to qualify again for the World University Games and hopefully the British Championships.”