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23-06-2010 : Athletics News
City Charities athletics match
The end of this year’s season for the UL athletics team was once again marked by the City Athletics Meeting, held as usual at the Willesden Sports Centre, refurbished nicely not too long ago. Unfortunate driving and navigation caused the majority of the team to turn up a little late, which meant we had no time to warm up, and this affected our competitors, especially in the earlier events.
This is an interesting fixture, where we compete not against other universities, or even athletic clubs, but teams such as the London Business Houses, the Civil Services and the Metropolitan Police. The prizes are the Financial Times Shield for the men and the Nuffield Trophy for the women. In previous years, UL and the United Hospitals have fronted separate teams, but this year we were a little short on numbers, so everyone competed under UL.
In the men’s competition, Anthony Mah and Alex Maxwell won the 200m and 400m respectively. Sion Whittaker came a valiant 2nd in the 100m. The field events were also successful, with Adrian Stamp and Sion Whittaker winning the long and triple jumps. Chris Raby came 3rd in the shot. For the past few years, either UL or UH has been the runaway winner of the Financial Times Shield, but this year we had to settle for 3rd. We did very well in the events which we did enter, but hopefully we can get more people to enter next year, especially the longer distance track events, where we had no one compete.
The UL women dominated in nearly all events. In the sprints, there were impressive double golds, with Nicola Lawrence winning both the 100m and 200m, whilst Melissa Tabas won the 400m and 800m. Kelly Thorneycroft was unfortunately disqualified from the 3000m for mp3 use, but she ran the fastest time. Jess Dobney came shortly behind in 2nd. Hayley Comer threw for 2nd place in the shot. Together, our ladies won the impressive Nuffield Trophy, nearly scoring more points than the Police and the Civil Services put together.
Congratulations and thanks to everyone who took place. It was a good day, more a relaxed social than a serious competition. Hopefully we can get even more people to compete in this and other competitions next year.
: full story :
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10-03-2010 : Crosscountry News
Teddy Hall Relays
On Wednesday, UL's runners travelled to Oxford to compete in the annual Teddy Hall Relays. The race starts and finishes on the track where Roger Bannister ran the first ever sub-4 minute mile with the rest of the course heading out through some of the university's historic colleges and boathouses.
Unfortunate circumstances meant we weren't able to field a complete girls team. However, with the UL girls present, running for their respective colleges on the day, we could have been seriously in the mix for the team medals with the 7th, 8th and 17th placed individuals in the overall rankings. This demonstrates the impressive strength of team the club could potentially field.
The men's team placed 13th overall. Thanks must go to Sam O'Neill for stepping in when it was needed and he started proceedings with a 19.25 first leg. Jonny Laybourn followed up with a 20.06, I ran third in 20.01 before handing over to Tom Grimley who brought the team home in 20.57. This was a strong performance given that all the team's members ran other legs on the day for their respective colleges.
: full story : results :
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06-03-2010 : Athletics News
ULU Indoor Athletics Championships
For the very first time the University of London Athletics Championships were held indoors, at the fantastic Lee Valley Athletics Centre. As well as individual titles, there was the intercollegiate competition for the UL Trophy, and the medical schools competition for the enormous United Hospitals Shield. This year we were especially lucky to have a special guest in John Parlett, after whom the Parlett Pot is named.
The field events kicked off with the high jump; the women’s event was closely contested, eventually won on countback by Magdelena Szuszkiewicz (King’s) from Suzanne Clifton (Imperial), both clearing an excellent 1.55m. The men’s event was won by Chris Jones of Imperial.
The 1500m provided the first track finals of the day, with a high quality field in both the men’s and women’s races. Both provided close finishes, with Scott Bastek (LSE) taking first place from Imperial’s Sam Murphey with a time of 4.15.3. In the women’s race Kat Lovrantova (LSE) pipped Royal Holloway’s Felicity Elliot to the line to win in 4.58.2. There was a very large field in the 3000m, testament to the depth of distance running at the University of London. Scott Bastek completed a double with an emphatic victory in 9.22.1, followed home by Johnny Laybourn of UCL and Alex Macauley of RUMS. The women’s event was won by a considerable margin by Imperial’s Tamsin Cargill.
UCL achieved a fantastic one-two in the men’s 60m, with Adrian Stamp winning in 7.0s from Pete Edmunds (7.1s). Harriet Shurley of Royal Holloway took the women’s title in 8.0s, which she later backed up with a win in the 60m hurdles (9.4s). The women’s 400m was a tightly contested race, won by Laura Carmichael of UCL from Sian Mitchell (ICSM). In the men’s race Aaron Mason (ICSM) cruised to victory by quite some margin.
The 800m was of extra importance this year, with the great John Parlett attending as a special guest. The men’s winner, and winner of the Parlett Pot, was Tom Beedell (2.03.8), with Sam O’Neil taking second place (2.04.7). The women’s race was won by Sara Luck of King’s College. Sara also took the 200m title, followed home by teammate Devon Kennard to make it a King’s one-two. The men’s 200m title went to Ajay Mohite (Imperial Medics) in what was a very exciting blanket finish. The men’s 60m hurdles provided interesting and somewhat terrifying spectating for the crowd, although King’s Andrew Speldewinde showed his class in this event with a clear victory.
A real stand-out performance was Darren March’s excellent 14.33m in the Men’s Triple Jump. The women’s event was won by Kandi Ejoifor (Imperial Medics) with 10.51m, who afterwards went on to win the women’s Long Jump (4.92m). The men’s Long Jump title went to St. George’s Sion Whittaker. The shot was the last field event of the day, won by Sam Coe (Imperial) in the men’s competition and by Lois Haruna (RUMS) in the women’s.
The competition was rounded off in exciting style with the 4x200m relays, both of which were won by the Imperial Medics team. Whilst their victory was comfortable in the women’s race, the men’s was very close with UCL only just beaten into second place.
The final points score gave an emphatic victory for Imperial in the UL Trophy competition, with 403 points, with Queen Mary’s and St. George’s tying for second place (226 points), King’s in fourth (222), UCL in fifth (158), Royal Holloway in sixth (82) and LSE in seventh (68). The United Hospitals Shield went once again to Imperial College School of Medicine who scored a massive 259 points, with St. George’s a valiant second and RUMS in third. Well done to everyone who took part and big thank you to all the helpers and officials who worked incredibly hard throughout the day. UL athletes can next look forward to the British Universities Indoor Championships coming up this weekend in Sheffield.
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03-03-2010 : LCL News
LCL Race 6, Brunel
The final race of this year's London Colleges League was held at Uxbridge yesterday afternoon. UL's runners produced some strong runs which helped secure them plenty of silverware in the League's presentation ceremony after the race.
Emily Moss (Royal Holloway) continued her good form winning not only the women's race on the day but also the overall league. Kat Lovrantova (LSE) took 2nd place, with Anna Ferguson (King's) in 3rd and Felicity Elliott (Royal Holloway) 4th. Felicity and Anna also placed 2nd and 3rd in the overall standings respectively. The top 8 places in the race were all taken by UL runners, demonstrating impressive strength in depth.
In the men's race Scott Bastek (LSE) saved his best performance till the last race to place 3rd and secure 2nd position in the league. Jonny Laybourn (UCL) also secured a top 10 finish and his 9th position ensured he went home with silverware for finishing the league in 6th place overall (missing out on 5th by the smallest possible of margins).
The women's team standings were a UL whitewash with Royal Holloway finishing 1st, King's 2nd and LSE 3rd. In the men's final standings, UCL were 2nd and King's 3rd.
This year's LCL has been particularly competitive, with UL having numerous runners consistently producing great performances. It bodes well for the future and I for one can't wait to get stuck into next year's league already!
Thanks as ever to Mike Baggs without whom none of this would be possible.
Well done to everyone who competed in this year's LCL, particularly those mentioned above.
: full story : results :
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13-02-2010 : Crosscountry News
Hyde Park Relays
Saturday saw UL's runners descend upon Hyde Park for the annual relay race around the Serpentine. The teams had been decimated by various cases of man flu (& whatever the female equivalent is), but 10 hardy runners persevered to produce some impressive results.
In the women's race Hannah Carmichael (Kings) led the team out, completing her 3.5km leg in just over 14.30. She was backed up with strong runs from Kelly Thorneycroft (UCL) in 14.26 and Hayley Cameron (UCL) in 14.00. Anna Ferguson (Kings) then brought the team home safely in 13.29 to secure an impressive 7th place overall for the team.
On the men's 5.2km course, Jonny Laybourn (UCL) started proceedings with a first leg of 17.43. It deserves a special mention that Jonny then not only ran 2 more legs, but completed all 3 of his legs in pretty decent times. Alex Macaulay (UCL) went 1 second faster in 17.42. Rob Doyle (UCL) and Andrew Lennard (UCL) both dipped just under 19 minutes for their legs and Tom Grimley (Kings) brought the team home in 19.22. A personal thanks must go to Tom Beedell for coming into the team at short notice, when I was unable to run, and smashing out a 16.40. This was a great help in securing 12th place for the team.
Well done and thank you to all those who ran, full results are attached.
Stephen
: full story : results :
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06-02-2010 : Crosscountry News
BUCS Cross Country Championships
On 11th September 1297, a major battle of the First War of Scottish Independence was won by the legendary William Wallace, at Stirling, in which 12,000 English men were defeated by a mere 2,000 Scots. And so it was that we found ourselves leaving the “William Wallace Hostel” on 6th February 2010 to a whole new battle, of equally epic proportions, waged between the very best athletes that British universities have to offer, fighting through the mud and grime, attempting to gain the hallowed prize of BUCS cross country champions.
The combat proceeded at 12:00hrs when 228 runners bunched up at the start line for the men’s A race. This was easily won by Andy Vernon of St Mary’s (previous winner at Swansea 2008), however ULU didn’t let him win without a fight. Scott Bastek led our brave warriors home, coming in an impressive 68th, and was followed closely but our great and glorious captain Stephen Auger in 81st. Charlie Brown (our very own Scot on home ground), Johnny Laybourn, Alex Macaulay, and Mike Ridley also put in notable performances, leading an overall team position of 15th.
Next on the list of proceedings was the women’s race. Our star performer, Sara Luck, boosted the team with a strong run to 29th (of 238). However, in what was a demonstration of pure grit and determination, our next finisher was Harriet Owles at 84th, who lost a shoe during the first lap, and had to endure the taunts of “hop along Harriet” and “one legged wonder” from the spectators for the rest of her race. You will be glad to hear she was reunited with her shoe later in the day! Harriet was supported the whole way round, and very closely followed by Anna Ferguson, our latest import from the Ferguson family, who finished in 87th. Emily McNally, Hannah Carmichael, and Mellissa Tabas followed not far behind and all the ladies were rewarded with 12th place overall.
The real battle of the day came in the men’s B race. With the first 50 places going almost exclusively to Birmingham, St Mary’s, and Loughborough, the remaining 150 places were all up for grabs. John Fergusson announced at the start line that his race would be limited to 15mins, due to his ITB injury, but he certainly made those 15mins count! He was in a strong position throughout his first 2 laps and would undoubtedly have broken into the top 50 had his injury not got the better of him. His withdrawal allowed Andrew Lennard to lead the London team home in 84th. Tom Grimley, James Stott, Mark Dellora, and Glen Barden all followed behind to finish what had been a strong all round performance form the University of London.
After dodging the drunks in the local pub whilst watching England storm to victory against the Welsh, all that was left to do was to go to Stirling University SU to celebrate a glorious day in London athletics. Captain Auger, led the way into the "dance circle" and it was clearly obvious who the coolest club in the place was - even Imperial were trying to get in on the scene. John Ferguson's ITB had recovered enough for him to cut some moves on the dance floor, and he even managed the long walk back to the hostel. The only advice we can give to those who are thinking of heading to the same place any time soon is to take a shower cap - the condensation from the ceiling wasn’t all that refreshing!
: full story : results :
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28-01-2010 : LCL News
LCL Race 5, Reading
Yesterday saw UL's cross country runners descend upon Prospect Park in
Reading, ready to renew battle in the London Colleges League following the
Christmas break.
The women's race was won by Emily Moss (Royal Holloway) in a dominant
display which cemented her position at the top of the League's individual
standings after 5 races. Sian Chalkley (UCL), Emily McNally (Kings),
Melissa Tabas (LSE), Meg Casson (LSE), Felicity Elliott (Royal Holloway),
Francesca Eddy (Kings) and Sandra Fiabema (UCL)all packed in well after
her, occupying 4th to 10th positions, with just over a minute separating
them all.
The men's race also saw plenty of top 10 finishes for UL's runners with
Stephen Auger (UCL) in 4th, Scott Bastek (LSE)6th, Jonny Laybourn (UCL)
8th and Tom Graver (UCL) 9th. Scott also heads into the last race at
Brunel currently leading the overall individual standings.
The League's final race will be held on 24th February, which will be your
last chance to gain some precious points to boost your final league
standings.
Congratulations to everyone who ran yesterday, full results are attached!
: full story : results :
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02-12-2009 : LCL News
LCL Race 4 and UL Champs
A downpour of rain before the start of the race left the Hackney Marshes
course resembling what, in places, could only be described as a mud bath.
However, this did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of UL’s athletes to get
stuck into the club’s annual cross country championships. Medal winners
were as follows:
Women’s Race
Individuals
1st – Harriet Owles (Kings) – 16.03
2nd – Emily Moss (Royal Holloway) – 16.18
3rd – Felicity Elliott (Royal Holloway) – 16.58
Teams
1st – Royal Holloway – 10
2nd – LSE – 20
3rd – Kings – 21
Men’s Race
Individuals
1st - Stephen Auger (UCL) – 26.54
2nd – Scott Bastek (LSE) – 27.19
3rd – Jonny Layobourn (UCL) – 27.21
Teams
1st – UCL – 13
2nd – Kings – 35
3rd – LSE – 56
Congratulations to all who competed and special thanks must go to Eton
Manor AC for their kind hospitality after the race and to Mike Baggs for
processing the results so efficiently.
: full story : results :
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18-11-2009 : LCL News
LCL Race 3, Wimbledon
The Wimbledon area's seen its fair share of sporting excellence over the
years and yesterday was no exception as it played host to a quality
display of running from UL's athletes.
In the women's race, Harriet Owles (Kings) came home in 2nd just a few
seconds off the winner with the rest of the top 10 being made up entirely
of UL runners. This is an extremely impressive feat and I’m not sure
we’ve ever had 9 athletes in the top 10. It shows that there’s an
unprecedented strength in depth amongst the women which bodes well for the
future. The top 5 teams were all from The University of London also, with
Royal Holloway beating Kings into 2nd and LSE into 3rd.
The men’s race was won with a dominant display from Joseph Morwood (St
George’s), taking victory by almost a minute! UL had 3 other runners in
the top 10 which, much like the women, demonstrates an encouraging
strength in depth. UCL managed 3rd place in the team event with King’s
finishing 4th.
: full story : results :
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04-11-2009 : LCL News
LCL Race 2 - Richmond
The second race in this year’s London Colleges League provided an
extremely strong challenge for UL’s athletes to test themselves against.
The 175 strong field was absolutely stacked with talent as St Mary’s
turned out in force. The course was in stark contrast to that experienced
at Parliament Hill with the monstrous hills replaced by a relatively flat
speed-fest.
In the Women’s race Emily Moss (Royal Holloway), Felicity Elliott (Royal
Holloway) and Zoe Anton (LSE) all came home in close order in 10th, 11th
and 12th respectively with only 6 seconds separating them. In the team
event, Royal Holloway just missed out on a top 3 finish, ending up 4th,
with Kings, RVC and L.S.E. filling 5th, 6th and 7th respectively.
In the men’s race, Joseph Morwood (St Georges) produced what must have
been the performance of the day for UL coming 5th. Charlie Brown (UCL)
came 9th, Scott Bastek (LSE) 11th and Jonny Laybourn (UCL) rounded off the
top 20 finishes in 15th. The team results weren’t quite so great with
only UCL making the top 10 in 5th place (beaten by St Mary’s 3rds!).
Well Done to everyone who turned out, particularly those mentioned above.
: full story : results :
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24-10-2009 : Athletics News
Training Day
The first training day of the year will be held 1pm, 24th October at the Lea Valley Athletics Centre, come along and try running, throwing and jumping (all standards are welcome), if you would like to try pole vault you will need to be there from 10.45am. Entry is free for all ULU members, so if you haven’t already done so, JOIN NOW!!!
Joining is easy:
1. If you don’t already have a ULU card get one, you’ll need the id number in order to complete the membership form (If you don’t have a ULU card get one ASAP from the ULU building on Malet Place, even if you don’t have a passport photo! more details - http://www.ulu.co.uk/content/index.php?page=7013)
2. Fill in a membership form (If you don’t have one you can download it from http://ulu.co.uk/files/Sports_and_Societies_Membership_form_2009_2010.pdf or http://ulu.co.uk/files/Sports_and_Societies_Membership_form_2009_2010.doc)
3. Write a check for £10 cheque to “University of London Union Athletic Club”.
4. Bring it along to the first training day on the 24th of October, Hand it in at the ULU Building or post it to the address below:
Lande Ogunsanya
81 Charles Rowan House
Margery Street
London
WC1X 0EJ
: full story : fixture info :
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21-10-2009 : LCL News
Parliament Hill LCL Results
The first race in this year’s London Colleges League produced some
promising results for the University of London’s cross country runners.
In all about 150 athletes toed the start line at Parliament Hill, ready to
kick start their cross country seasons. From the gun there was an
outlandish solo attempt to take the crown of ‘King of the Hill’ by one
Imperial athlete, but UL’s athletes kept their composure and got stuck
into the rest of the undulating course.
In the women’s race (won by former UL athlete Harriet Scott), Harriet
Owles (Kings) led home the UL runners in 3rd place overall. She was
closely followed by Emily Moss (Royal Holloway) in 4th, with Zoe Anton
(LSE), Felicity Elliott (Royal Holloway) and Anna Ferguson (Kings) all
achieving impressive top 10 finishes. This is the first time in over 10
years that 5 UL athletes have all finished in the top 10 at Parliament
Hill, suggesting we’ve got a promising year ahead. In the team race only
4 points separated the top 3 teams, proving that every position really
does count. Kings just managed to just pip Royal Holloway by the smallest
possible of margins, with the teams finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The men found the going a bit tougher but there were still some strong
finishes. Stephen Auger (UCL) came 8th, with Scott Bastek (LSE) 10th,
John Ferguson (UCL) 14th, Jonny Laybourn (UCL) 16th and Alex Macaulay
(UCL) 19th, all placing in the top 20. The UCL team was edged out of a
top 3 finish ending up 4th with Kings getting 6th place.
The results suggest there’s currently a good pool of talent at the
University of London and hopefully we’ll all be able to build on this to
produce some truly outstanding performances in UL colours later in the
year!
The full results are up at http://ulathletics.co.uk/results.php
: full story : results :
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14-10-2009 : Social News
Fresher's social: Beer Mile
The infamous Beer Mile took place on Wednesday 14th October in Russell Square. It was great to see new and old faces alike (although there was a distinct lack of female participation for this particular event...!) Following a brief introduction of this year’s committee members, it was off to Russell Square to commence with this somewhat pre-season race.
The rules are simple: drink a can, run a lap... repeat four times. We had 13 entrees, with the more sensible opting to spectate. With the runners lined up at the start there was much speculation amongst the onlookers; who could drink fast, who could run fast... who was the complete package..?
It was with the hissing of beer cans that the race got underway. This year’s president Tom Reed was first to finish drinking and start running; some athletes struggled with their choice of beverage, citing “fizziness” as slowing their progress...
The combination of drinking and running noticeably started taking a toll between laps 2 and 3, and things started to get messy. It was with some relief for athletes and spectators alike that the four laps came to a close, with leader-from-the-start Tom Reed taking the coveted title of University of London AC Beer Mile Winner 2009, in a time of 8 minutes 15 seconds. Second and third places went respectively to Imperial athletes Sam O’Neill (9:36) and Reuben Bogg (9:51), both drinking a tactical combo of John Smith and Boddingtons. Fourth place was taken by Petr Maslov (10:18), and fifth place by Adam Naidle (10:43). As the race came to a close, a brief clean-up operation took place and then it was off to ULU for some post-race celebratory drinks.
Well done to all the competitors, and welcome to all new members!
: full story : results :
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14-10-2009 : Social News
Freshers Social
The Freshers' Social this year will be on Wednesday 14th October. We will be meeting the main entrance of ULU at 19:30.
: full story :
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22-09-2009 : Social News
ULU Freshers Fayre
Friday 2nd October 2009, 12 noon - 5pm, at ULU, Malet Street
Come and visit us at the Freshers' Fayre!! Learn more about us and the club, we'll be there to answer any questions you have. You can even join the club then and there if you want.
For directions to get there please follow this link: http://www.ulu.co.uk/content/index.php?page=13
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