The first meet of the second annual LUCA London Colleges Athletics Series (LCAS) will take place at Parliament Hill Athletics Track this Saturday.
The competition was established in 2015 to be the track and field equivalent of the cross-country, London Colleges League.
Parliament Hill is the traditional venue for the first meet of the LCL and will this year play home to the first meet of LCAS.
Athletes will be competing for points that go towards their individual standing in each event and their clubs total. The club with the most points at the end of the final meet on the 28th May will win the series championship.
King’s won the inaugural series championship last year.
But 2015 will feel like a long time ago for King’s after defeat at the hands of rivals UCL at the LUCA Indoor championships in November. UCL, who were in Brighton last weekend for a training camp will feel confident competing at the track they call home.
Away from traditional rivalries, the University of Essex Blades have caused a stir by sending a 59-strong team to their first ever LCAS meet. The Blades have broken two LCAS records in the process; most athletes entered into a single meet and most entries entered into a single meet.
The University of Reading Knights will also be joining LCAS for the first time. Fresh from varsity glory against Oxford Brookes, the Knights will be looking to lay down an early marker in the competition.
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UEL’s Antonia Miracle Evans did the series 100 and 200 double in 2015 and will be returning to LCAS to focus on the 200m. Evans ran a 25.25 at BUCS indoor last month and will be favourite to win the series title again.
Also attending the meet will be Jimmy Thoronka. The top Sierra Leone 100m sprinter absconded from the Commonwealth Games in 2014 after Ebola devastated his family back home, and was discovered by the Guardian emaciated and homeless on the streets of London. Since then, he’s been fighting for asylum and training with UEL AC.
UCL’s Tom Mort narrowly missed out on 100m Gold last year by 1ms. Mort led eventual champion, Fabian Critchlow (Kings) 10 points to 7 but was denied victory after finishing 5th in the final. However, competition will be tough with UEL’s Shad Marc-Aaron in the mix.
Ultra runner and UCL president, Victor Mound (UCL) will be attempting the distance triple with the 10,000, 5,000 and 3k steeplechase.
The women’s 4X100 relay promises to be a close run race. LUCA 4X200 champions, LSE are not present at this meet leaving UCL and Kings as favourites. But teams from Essex and Imperial will make this a spectacular end of the fixture.
