August 2016

Get your colour on with the Colour Run

August 31, 2016 Emma Butcher

Have you ever felt like a 5km run was a bit…well, boring? Well fear no more: Colour Runs are here to brighten your day! Touted as the ‘happiest 5km on the planet’, Colour Runs involve a 5K running route with a vast spectrum of colourful powder along the way (see below for an example colour explosion). They have taken place all over the world and have been received with great success, so I headed to the Wembley arena earlier this summer to check out the latest London event. With another London Colour […]

The rise of the Midnight Runners

August 29, 2016 James Findon

Running clubs may be on the decline, but running communities are on the rise. No better example of the rapid growth in running communities is there than the Midnight Runners. Within 15 months, the group has gone from 15 runners to over 400. I’m a regular club runner, but one of my colleagues has spoken so highly of the Midnight Runners group that I decided to give it a go and compare the two experiences. So, for the last two months, I’ve been running with the Midnight Runners every Tuesday evening at their 10K Music […]

2016-17 fixtures announced

August 21, 2016 James Findon

We are happy to announce the fixture list for the 2016-17 season. Included in this years fixture list is the London Student’s Run which will be hosted in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This mass participation run will offer both a 5 and 10K. Indoor champions, UCL will get the chance to defend their crown at Lee Valley on the 27th November. Nested within the indoor championships will be the 149th annual Hospitals Athletics Championship Shield. Reigning LCL champions, King’s (women’s) and St Mary’s (men’s) will compete to retain their titles […]

Kickstart your writing career

August 21, 2016 Emma Butcher

Calling all would-be journalists – would you like to write articles on the best sport in the world (Athletics, obviously!). Here at the LUCA media team, we’re looking for new recruits for the next University year. As part of the team, you can get involved with any aspect of digital communication that interests you – whether that’s writing an article, making a video interview, or something entirely different. You can produce content on any subject to do with athletics/running and are more than happy to work with you to come up with a […]

Congratulations, A-Level students!

August 18, 2016 James Findon

Today, A-Level students open an envelope and find out their results. If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve got the grades to come to London to study at one of our 40 higher education institutions. If so, congratulations and welcome to a student family 400,000 strong. You’re probably also here because you’re interested in athletics. Well, you’re in luck. LUCA is the home of University athletics in and around London. It is a federation of over 20 university athletics clubs that organises competitions and works to improve the sport in […]

A Refugee Team in Rio: Unity in diversity

August 17, 2016 Shala Nourmamode

For over 100 years, many athletes have strived for the Olympian glory of both summer and winter games. For the first time since the establishment of the modern Olympics, a team composed of athletes from 4 different countries will unite their strength and compete for the refugees under the Olympic flag, rather than representing their home countries. The 10 athletes were selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), out of 43 potential candidates identified last October. The selection comprised of two swimmers from Syria, five South Sudanese track and field athletes, […]

The missing faces of Rio 2016

August 7, 2016 Rhianna Madden-Hansle

With the Rio 2016 athletics schedule kicking off in just under 5 days, there will be no Russian athletes gracing our television screens. This follows the revelation of a ‘state-sponsored doping programme’ that allegedly spanned for four years, beginning after the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. After assessing the evidence, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommended a blanket ban for all Russian athletes from the Olympic Games, meaning that none of the 389 Russian athletes would be allowed to take part in any of the 28 Olympic sports. However, since this […]