2018 – Page 2 of 7

My LUCA: Andres Chau

November 11, 2018 Jack Dickenson

Andres Chau is the current LUCA Vice-President and a UCL stalwart. Frequently seen churning up the mud in the black & white of Highgate as well as the purple of UCL, he’s been clocking some rapid track times this summer too. Andres spoke to LUCA to give us some insight into his training, life in athletics, and just what it’s like living with Henry. Hi Andres. What’s your uni background? I did my undergrad at UCL in French and Spanish. I did year abroad placements in Lyon, France and Buenos Aires, […]

Mitcham Common: Saint Mary’s and Imperial duos go for gold and silver

November 1, 2018 Aymeric Regnier

The cross-country season is now well underway, as over 180 athletes met up on Wednesday for the second race of the season, and it’s a good one: Mitcham Common. Appreciated for its flat parts and roller-coaster section, it was an absolute pleasure on both the running and cheering sides. Saint Mary’s University came in as leaders after dominating the field in Parliament Hill two weeks before, with Imperial and UCL right behind them in the women’s and men’s teams respectively. With the race beginning at 3:15 pm, most clubs made […]

Ding Ding: Round 2 at Mitcham

October 30, 2018 Jack Dickenson

As the clocks go back and the cold hits (get those gloves out), we’re heading south to Mitcham Common tomorrow for the next round of the LUCA XC League. After a top opener at Parli Hill good numbers are expected again as clubs look to build on their first races. What can we expect? 2 words for Mitcham: flat and fast. It’s nothing like Parli Hill, with lots of flat stretches, so the 1500m runners will be able to kick on after the long climbs of Hampstead Heath. There are […]

Classic season opener at Parli Hill as St Mary’s storm into early lead

October 18, 2018 Jack Dickenson

The traditional curtain raiser for the LUCA cross-country season duly delivered again yesterday at a suitably autumnal Parliament Hill. All the components were there: a lovely dry course, huge turnouts and of course a poor Imperial fresher donning the ‘King of the Hill’ shirt. It was ideal conditions for racing, particularly for a first race, and there were great numbers of runners doing their first ever XC race. We’re not sure how they felt after the first climb but hopefully they ‘enjoyed’ it! It would seem as though the antics […]

A new competition starts tomorrow

October 16, 2018 James Findon

A new competition starts tomorrow. Here’s a list of four things you need to know. 1. It’s embedded within the LUCA XC League The new competition is embedded within the LUCA XC League. Similar to the University of London Championships and Bannister Cup, relevant results are extracted from the race results. You don’t need to do anything differently when registered and captains don’t need to worry about filling out any forms. As with all LUCA competitions, athletes need to be registered before the race. 2. It’s for your ‘A-Teams’ The […]

Back to XC! Cross-Country Season Preview

October 12, 2018 Aymeric Regnier

Ladies and gentlemen, leaves are turning brown, your housemates have started wearing their big warm coats again, and you’ve noticed more and more people taking candid pictures with their Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte? It can only mean one thing, Cross-Country Season is upon us, whoo! We hope you’re excited because, after last year’s performances, this one is supposed to be even muddier, colder and overall better as we’re expecting to get an even bigger turnout than last year (which was already staggering). Last year saw over 400 athletes compete throughout […]

World Mental Health Day

October 10, 2018 Jack Dickenson

What if there were an illness affecting a quarter of UK students? You can imagine the reaction: outcry, enquiries, the search for a cure and so on. At the very least, you would hope the illness gets adequate publicity and that those suffering get the support they need. One illness often mentioned in relation to students is meningitis. A nasty bacterial infection, it can result in hearing loss, kidney problems, loss of limbs, and in extreme cases, death. Freshers are now vaccinated against 4 bacterial strains, and there are ample […]

What to expect from University Athletics in London

August 16, 2018 James Findon

Results are in and you’re heading to London for university. CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME! You will be joining 400,000 other students who call London their home and over a thousand who are part of LUCA. As you’ve found this website, chances are that you are keen on getting involved in athletics and running. Whether you are a seasoned competitive athlete or a couch potato aiming for their first 5K, read on to learn about our growing community of 22 university athletics clubs and the services we offer. Who are we? LUCA is […]

Don Ritchie – The Stubborn Scotsman

July 24, 2018 Rahil Sachak-Patwa

If searching for the longest standing world records in athletics, you will most likely be pointed to Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 800m at the 1983 World Championships. If you dig further still, you may come across Donald ‘Don’ Ritchie, who, on 28th October 1978, ran 100 kilometres around the Crystal Palace track in 6 hours,10 minutes and 20 seconds. To put that into perspective, he averaged a pace of quicker than 6 minutes per mile, or just under 1m29s per lap for 250 of them. This record stood for just short of […]

LUCA Takeover I Move London Relay in world record attempt

June 21, 2018 James Findon

LUCA has partnered with the I Move London Relay to help break a world record by running 4000 miles across London to tackle homelessness and gang culture. Organisers behind the I Move London Relay are hoping running fans and exercise shirkers alike will lace up their trainers in a bid to bring the capital together. SIGN UP HERE. It is hoped the race will break the world record for the longest continuous running relay and people from all 120 postcodes and 32 boroughs in London are wanted to take part. Each […]