Jack Dickenson, Author at LUCA

My LUCA: Henry Murdoch

December 22, 2018 Jack Dickenson

Henry Murdoch is the current president of LUCA. A UCL grad, he’s no stranger to leading – as their president last year, he guided them to cross country, indoor and even varsity success. He’s not quite the classic athletics story though, as he says he initially ‘really hated running’ before finding his feet at uni. He now runs for Highgate, and spoke to LUCA to tell us a bit about his journey. What’s your uni background? I read History with French at UCL which included a year abroad studying in Paris. […]

Oh Captain, My Captain – nominate your LUCA Leaders

December 16, 2018 Jack Dickenson

Ever thought that despite all their nagging you to fill 17 events at indoors/making you trudge through freezing mud/setting gut-busting intervals, your club captain is actually pretty alright? If so, now’s your chance to nominate them for The Tab’s Captain of the Year 2018. They’re running a UK-wide competition to find the best uni sports captain around, so why not nominate your LUCA club captain? All you need to do is fill in a short form on The Tab website HERE. It’d be great to see LUCA represented so get […]

Indoor Champs round up

December 7, 2018 Jack Dickenson

Last Saturday, LUCA descended on Lee Valley for what promised to be another fantastic Indoor Championships, with 236 athletes entered across the board. Incorporating both the University of London and United Hospitals Championships within the overall LUCA Champs, the day saw a range of excellent performances throughout, as well as some unexpected results. Brunel had never won a LUCA title before and it was widely expected that the fight for the David Morgan Cup would be between the much larger universities of UCL (37 athletes) and King’s (33). However, a team […]

Final Indoors info

November 30, 2018 Jack Dickenson

We are pleased to confirm the final details for tomorrow’s Indoor Championships at Lee Valley: Entry lists can be found here – please let us know if anything’s wrong! The final timetable can be found under Indoors Final Timetable Heats draws will be available on the indoors page later today. They’ll also be found up on the wall on the day. Withdrawal of athletes – there will be a withdraw sheet on the day. Withdrawn athletes will still be charged. Substitutes may be allowed under the discretion of the race manager. To withdraw in […]

Another huge Indoor Champs in store

November 27, 2018 Jack Dickenson

This Saturday, 236 athletes from across London’s universities will descend on Lee Valley Athletics Centre for what promises to be another celebration of university athletics. The day encompasses several different competitions: the LUCA Championships, the University of London Championships and the United Hospitals Athletics Championships. What are they all? The LUCA Championships is for all clubs that are part of LUCA. Everyone competing for an affiliated club is eligible to both score points for their team and to win individual medals, with the winning club taking home the David Morgan […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]