Studying abroad in UK, can I still run?

You'll be able to compete no problem.

If you want a decent university team though, I would avoid Bradford, Hull and Kingston. They don't have a team to speak of.

The other two are ok but not up there with the best.

Kingston University is a stone's throw from St Mary's, the strongest running university in the UK (Vernon, Osagie, Farah etc) - best bet would be to train with the strongest group you can find a way into and join a UK club for most of your competition needs (British League, BMC, championships on the track; road races and relays; McCain cross countries, championships, league races).

Kingston is half an hour's train from London and within a couple of miles of Richmond Park, Bushy Park and the base of Ricky Simms' PACE management (Usain Bolt, Mo Farah, Vivian Cheruyiot) in Teddington.

University competition is a bit of fun but student athletes in the UK will also be club members and competing for their club. The framework of decent competition in the UK is geared to clubs rather than universities.

I got in some great running when I did that. I was over there in the summer and "summer" in the UK is more like spring in the south. I could run any time of time w/o worrying about 90+ degree temps and jungle like humidity.

Agree with poster who said that club competition is where it's at. Bristol is where it's at academically from the list of universities you gave - and to my mind the nicest city,too. I don't know much about the running scene there. I would not live in central Hull or Bradford.

I'd study plenty of broads in the UK, if they all looked like Elizabeth Hurley. Meow!

Watch out for Muslims there- they enjoy beheading infidels

Just an afterthought - there was a recent thread about running in the London area. If you opt for Kingston, you'll have access to all of the running resources on that side of London. Check out the London thread for more info.

Having previously besmirched Bradford as a place to live, it is within easy driving distance of Leeds - Leeds City is a strong club and there may be other good training groups with or without a club affiliation there. Bingley certainly used to be a very strong club, but I don't know what their current setup is like.

Bristol would still get my vote, but if you opt for that be prepared to run alone quite a bit if you're much sub 15 for 5k.

The main university competitions are the BUCS XC, indoors and outdoors. As far as I know, if you're a registered student, you can represent your university

You don't necessarily need to limit yourself to your University track team. There are plenty of active athletics clubs in the UK, and plenty of competitions that you can take part in.

Agree - Bristol and Swansea are your best options by far. As far as I'm aware both teams have ok univeristy running groups, nothing special at all, and also good local club coaches if that suits better.