Brighton saves the day for elite athletes

The University of Brighton has come to the rescue of Australian elite athletes Matthew Hussey and Will Lewis.

Matthew and Will both study Property and Construction Management at RMIT University in Melbourne and were faced with the dilemma of missing out on the British Milers Club races due to clashes with their course exams.

The British Milers Club races take place in the UK, Belgium and Germany and would provide Matthew and Will with important exposure to assist with sponsorship as they move into a professional athletics career and hopefully national team selection and representation. Staying in Melbourne to sit their exams meant they would have missed many of the races and the cost of coming over later would have been prohibitive.

Training partners Matthew and Will contacted multiple universities in the UK to request an invigilator so that they could sit their exams in the UK and also race. They received no luck until the University of Brighton stepped in and both are at the University’s Eastbourne campus this week to sit their four exams.

Senior lecturer Simon Green, who is invigilating their exams said: “We couldn’t have been more delighted to help Matthew and Will. We have lots of elite athletes studying at Brighton and we know that both sport and study are incredibly important to them.

“As I knew I would be in my marking period, and would therefore be able to sit with them while they took their exams, I didn’t hesitate to say yes!”

Matthew and Will said: “We are so glad that Simon responded to our email as some Universities didn’t even reply. This has allowed us to have a full European season and we really appreciate the help.”

You can watch Matthew and Will in Manchester last year in the British Milers Club A race 1500m.

We wish Matthew and Will lots of success for the race season and with their exams too!