Loughborough continued to show why we are the best sports university in the UK in term 1, with medal hauls, BUCS records, and international representation. Sports editor, Jasmine Trapnell details some of the amazing highlights from term 1 of this academic year.
The first term of this academic year kicked off with a big announcement that 16 of our Loughborough Lightning rugby players had been selected to represent their country at the Rugby World Cup. 6 players went on to represent England in the final against New Zealand. Meanwhile, on campus, we welcomed a new cohort of students, many attending trials for their sport, or trying out our IMS and social sport for the first time.
In just the second week of term we hosted the rugby Big Match, where our Men’s rugby union 1st team beat rival team Nottingham 35-5, in front of a sold-out crowd! In the half-time break our AU Cheerleaders joined us on the pitch and did an amazing performance, even more impressive considering how slippery the pitch was!
Our students continued to impress in October with 6 Loughborough students representing Great Britain hockey in Malaysia, alongside our men’s hockey head coach Jerome Goudie who was also there representing Great Britain.
Freshers had the chance to get involved with Intra-Mural Sport (IMS) for the first time at Freshers Cup – with halls competing in dodgeball, tug of war and ultimate frisbee. Rutherford ended up taking the win, followed by Falk Egg then Faraday. With last years overall IMS Champions, Telford, coming in at a shocking 6th place.
Moving into November – BUCS leagues were well underway and we saw the first of the BUCS cycling competitions, with our cyclists bringing home 3 golds, 2 silvers and 2 bronze medals. Swimming followed suit winning overall gold, men’s gold and women’s gold on top of an amazing haul of individual medals and records at the BUCS Short Course.
During Movember 42 of our AU clubs successfully raised money for men’s mental health, raising over £49,000! Some highlights were: rowing doing a 24-hour row; women’s hockey tried out lots of sports; and men’s hockey did a 60-hour run.
Badminton then saw a double header against Nottingham, with our women’s team drawing and the men’s dominating with a 7-1 win. In tennis Nadia Rawson made her GB debut in the World University Tennis Championships and won an impressive silver medal.
With BUCS coming to a close for term 1, we had 8 past and present Loughborough athletes competing at the European Cross-Country Championships in Turin, Italy. With both the u23 men’s and women’s teams taking home team golds, on top of individual medals.
Overall, we had a successful term 1 and continue to stand strong in BUCS. The results produced already show great prospect for what is to come for the rest of the year – where we hope to retain our 41-year consecutive title of BUCS Champions…
Edited by: Jasmine Trapnell – Sports Editor
Photography by: Gemma Norris – Head of Lens
Designed by: Jasmine Trapnell – Sports Editor
