Netflix and Hill

On Wednesday 24th January, it was LSE’s turn to host the 4th (and penultimate) LUCA XC race of the year at Alexandra Palace. Leaving a rainy Beit at 1pm, 30+ dishevelled Imperial students took the Piccadilly line to Wood Green before ascending the long hill up to the café at Ally Pally. Their journey saw a long jump over a deep puddle, some serious elevation, and a spectacular view of London.

After the standard pre-race bathroom trip and wait for weather to improve, the team descended to the start line where a mud bath awaited them. Plastic bags were immediately deployed in an attempt to keep their belongings dry. Alternatively, belongings were covered by jackets and hung on trees; any attempt to fight the harsh weather conditions. Following a quick ‘warm up’, lots of optimism, and a beaming team photo, they joined 100+ other students also ready to tackle the tough course which was approximately three laps/6.6km for Men and two laps/4.4km for Women. Each lap saw a flat start, a gradual incline, and a rapid decline towards the finish. The course contained trail, concrete, and grass but was mostly mucky water.

It was classic XC.

“Following a quick ‘warm up’, lots of optimism, and a beaming team photo, they joined over 100 other students”

For most of the runners this was a tough and lonely mental battle, with little support along the way, but this didn’t stop them looking on the bright side. There were comical face-plants on show and despite the somewhat dangerous finish, students managed to slide down the hill greeted by roaring cheers of delight.

First home for the Imperial Men was 3rd placed Oliver Newton in a time of 24:29, followed by 6th placed Harry Scriven in 25:23 and Henry Hart in 7th with a time of 25:34. Some other impressive male performances included Fergus Johnson (26:39), Kyrill Mikhaylov (26:55), Charlie McFadzean (26:59), and Men’s Captain Lewis Jackson (27:13), leaving them second in the LUCA league just behind UCL. It was a successful day for Imperial’s Women too, with them retaining their position at the top of the league but their lead over UCL was cut from 9 points to just 4 with one race to go! They had 4 strong top 10 finishers: 5th Sarah Johnson (18:37), 6th Kate Olding (18:50), 8th Women’s Captain Anna Lawson (19:15) and 9th Club Captain Alex Mundell (19:20).

“Following the success, there was an impressive mudslide performance and cake consumption”

Following the success, there was an impressive mudslide performance, compulsory cake consumption and attempts to clean up in dirty puddles from Imperial’s athletes. For some, a well-deserved cheeky Nandos was in order followed by an uncomfortable tube ride back to South Kensington with lots of funny looks from rather less muddy members of the general public. After quick but soothing shower, the runners continued the celebrations for Karaoke at the Chelsea Pensioner with some quality singing on display. Rumour has it that there was an impressive (and exclusive) 30-minute performance from a recently formed Oasis tribute band – they are set to release their cover album soon.

Finally, the jovial atmosphere diffused to the Slug (where else?) – it was a pleasure as always. A day to remember for ICXC.

For more information about Cross Country & Athletics, email run@ic.ac.uk.