February 2017

Bushy Park – the final showdown of the LUCA LCL races

February 26, 2017 Emma Butcher

Name: LUCA London Colleges League race Bushy Park What is it: Part of a series of cross-country races run by LUCA for all students from London universities – see more details at http://www.london-athletics.com/lcl/ When is it: 1st March 2017; start 3:15 pm Where is it: Bushy Park (see travel details: http://www.london-athletics.com/maps/bushy/) Course details: Full course details can be found at the same link as the travel details Registration: Carried out by clubs rather than individuals, so just get in touch with your universities’ running team to find out more Results: You […]

London Alumnus does a Gump

February 22, 2017 Seth Kennard

Rob Pope, a graduate of the Royal Veterinary College, has set himself quite a challenge- to recreate Forrest Gump’s trans-American voyage of running and discovery. Along the way he’s boiled in the sub, frozen in the snow and raised a lot of money for Peace Direct and the World Wildlife Fund. LUCA News caught up with him online to ask him a few questions about his adventure. So I think the first question must be one you get quite a lot; Why? I’ve always had running as a big part […]

HIGHLIGHTS from the British Athletics Indoor Team Trials

February 20, 2017 Rhianna Madden-Hansle

Hundreds of athletes journeyed to Sheffield on the 11-12 February 2017 with the hopes of being crowned British Champion and securing a place on the British team for the European Indoor Championships. In the preceding week, as athletes were confirming their attendance, questions were being asked: Would defending champion, Andrew Pozzi, current world lead, reclaim his men’s 60m hurdles title? With the absence of Dina Asher-Smith, how would Asha Philip fair in the women’s 60m? Is Katrina Johnson-Thompson the new Jessica Ennis and Britain’s heptathlon superstar? Carry on reading to […]

Sir Mo Farah attends renaming of St Mary’s track

February 18, 2017 James Findon

Sir Mo Farah returned to St Mary’s University, Twickenham to see the track renamed after him. The four-time Olympic gold medalist trained at St Mary’s between 2001 and 2011 after being awarded a scholarship to the Endurance Performance and Coaching Centre (EPACC). At that time, he was one of two athletes granted such a scholarship. Now, St Mary’s have over 120 sports scholarship students. These include world record-holders Steve Cram and David Bedford. Farah said: “St Mary’s and all the people associated with the EPACC have been a big part of my journey. “I […]

University of London athletics club; triumph at BUCS and plans for the future

February 17, 2017 Emma Butcher

Written by Emma Dixon, Max Arzt-Jones and Eleanor Harrison of University of London Athletics Club The University of London Athletics Club is mainly formed of athletes from smaller London university colleges because the larger colleges have teams of their own. But on Saturday 4th February, despite being swamped in numbers by other teams, our girl’s team placed 6th out of 59 teams across Britain in the BUCS Cross Country Championships, in Sheffield. Read on to find out more about our BUCS experience and how you can get involved in the […]

High-tech running

February 15, 2017 Dan Richards

My first mass participation race was in 2005, the British 10k race in central London. I didn’t know much about running back then and I certainly didn’t have any tech, just a pair of Nike Free Run’s and bags of enthusiasm! My senses were on high alert with the various sounds and wafts of deep heat spray. People had bottles of homemade energy drinks and gels, and were talking about the route and expected completion times. I remember the shuffling sounds of people and the excited conversations taking place all […]

BUCS comes to London

February 13, 2017 James Findon

The BUCS 10,000m championships will be held at Parliament Hill in the Highgate Harriers, Night of the 10,000m PB’s. The event will also incorporate the 2017 IAAF World Championship GB Trials and British National Championship. The night of the 10,000m has been one of the major athletics success stories in recent years. Unlike traditional track races, spectators are invited onto the track to cheer athletes on from lane 3. A BBQ and beer tent will add to the mood and provide an extra incentive to athletes to finish quickly. Motivational […]

St Mary’s and Brunel shine in Sheffield

February 12, 2017 James Findon

Brunel’s Rebecca Murray and Southampton’s Alex Teuten win Gold at the largest ever BUCS Cross-Country Championships at Graves Park in Sheffield. St Mary’s took the top place in the Men’s Long and Short Team races. Conditions were cool and dry but the course was wet from heavy rain overnight. Thick mud, hills and jumps provided technical challenges to the 1991 athletes across three races. Murray was in a fierce battle with the South of England champion, Emily Hosker-Thornhill and the 2014 under-20 European XC championships silver medalist, Jessica Judd during […]

Alexandra Palace XC race report

February 6, 2017 Shala Nourmamode

The 4th and penultimate LCL cross-country race is usually extremely popular in the post-Christmas holiday season and took place this year on the last Wednesday of January at Alexandra Park. Despite the cold and the mist, the conditions were ideal for great performances for both women’s 4K and men’s 6K. With no surprise, Emma Dixon, representing the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), took the lead completing the race in 17:15. Lily Coward from St Mary and UCL runner Emma Butcher followed with times of 17:43 and 17:46 respectively. Dixon therefore maintains […]

Off the beaten track

February 3, 2017 Dan Richards

I am a keen sprinter and will probably always claim to be. Roughly 3 years ago though, I was accidentally exposed to ‘trail running’ and since then I have become hooked! Trail running gives you a variety of terrain, scenery, people and awesome locations. Most importantly, the pain and monotony of training is replaced by feelings of freedom and euphoria, assuming you’re doing it right! True trail running can be found worldwide in large mountain ranges such as the Alps, but there are a few entry level routes in easy […]