LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY
Established: 1909 (Loughborough Technical Institute)
Colour: African Violet
At times, Loughborough are unbeatable in BUCS competition. The fact that several of the other teams we spoke to picked them out as key rivals, speaks volumes for how much they want to try and beat the East Midlands-based team. Harry Lane and Kieran Reilly have the low-down…
Tell us about your uni and why it is the best one to compete for?
The best reason for competing at Loughborough is that with such strong teams year on year and such an illustrious heritage, you always feel immense pride in pulling on the African Violet. Due to the depth and quality of our nearly 400 athlete strong club, just to be selected to run for Loughborough is an honour and one that normally has to be hard earned.
What’s your favourite thing about competing in BUCS events?
The team spirit. With every uni coming out to fight for every event, the atmosphere is always phenomenal and you want to give everything for your team and not only yourself, which sets itself apart from most other competitions in the standard athletics calendar.
Can you give us your best memory of BUCS competition?
Being fortunate enough to lift the cups for both indoors and outdoors on behalf of the Loughborough men’s team last year.
Which athletes in your team should we be keeping an eye out for? Do you usually have any specialisms in particular events?
We’re missing a few athletes due to other racing commitments such as cross country or altered training schedules as they look ahead to the Commonwealths, but additionally there’s always some athletes that pull out great performances at Championships and compete above expectations.
Which of the other universities would you say are your biggest rivals and what would you say to the competition ahead of the BUCS Nationals?
Although we’d like to think we don’t have any rivals, on the indoor circuit Cardiff Met and Brunel can be considered ours – it is often difficult to field four athletes in each event over the indoors due to alternate commitments and different training regimes – but don’t underestimate the strength and depth of Loughborough University.
