The date was 6^th March and the venue was the prestigious Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. In the grounds of the pool, the FA Cup final was held from 1895 to 1914, and athletics records were broken by names such as Usain Bolt, Michael Johnson and Paula Radcliffe.

However, on this Friday afternoon, UCL Swimming brought it names that included Justin Semenkoff, Rebecca Hoadley, and Janis Mok, to conquer the Kings Swimming team. Not only did we conquer, but in doing so we secured our 6^th straight victory in Varsity, continuing our unbeaten record!!

Nevertheless, congratulations to the Kings team for running (swimming) us so close on the day, with only a slim margin of victory separating the two teams overall. Also, a big thanks goes to Kings for organising the event!

After the day’s proceedings, our swimmers sat down (Chinese takeaway in one hand, a selection of Tesco beverages in the other) to watch the UCL and Kings water polo teams battle it out! Big shout out to our own Welfare and Sponsorship Officer, Lizzie Rose, for her match winning performance as the UCL Females overcame their Kings counterparts.

Big credit must go to the two competitive captains, Justin and Rebecca, for leading the team to another Varsity victory! Also, shout outs to Becca Lin, Janis Mok, Oskar Soulas, Maya Kirlew, Daniel Morgolin, Caterina Vanelli-Coralli, Rory Alexander, Samuel Bouilloud, Toby Katerbau and the two Robs for some great swimming.

Special plaudits go to John Telensky for swimming probably more events than Michael Phelps did throughout the entire 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Another successful year, and onto the next one!! #bleedpurple

(30 November, 2019)

London league Round 2 was set in the territory of Imperial College London.

Unfortunately we were rather undermanned conpared to the first round, having only 4 girls, (Rebecca, Janis, Goggy, and Nicole) and 5 guys (Justin, Sam, Daniel, John, and Jonghak) showed up.

Nonetheless, Rebecca led the girls as they swam through all the events, having no backup squad members to even out the race distributions. Her strategy and willingness to hand over the 100im and the 100 fly to Goggy was very commendable!

On the other hand, Justin led to the boys through an equally tough series of races due to the evident lack of rest and squad. However, in the end we managed to achieve a respectable result and win a couple races, despite fierce competition from the other unis!

Thanks to everyone involved!!

[15 – 17 November, 2019]

Our first BUCS competition of the year got off to a great start on the Friday with Goggy getting a win for UCL in the 1500m freestyle (after just swimming in 2 relays!!). In the evening we prepared for the rest of the weekend by eating burgers at GBK (maybe not the best pre-race food) and were up early for the following morning’s races.

Saturday was a successful day, with some great PBs and Maya making the 50 back final and going sub 30s for the first time! Not to mention Goggy also getting a bronze medal in the 800m!! The day ended with some Italian food and a viewing of Johnnie English 3. The weekend finished with some great swims, especially from John and Maya, who both got PBs and then we all headed back to London after a fun weekend of racing.

Justin and Rebecca rallied the troops for another class weekend of swimming in Sheffield!

[30/10/2019]

The night which UCL Swimming Club is famous for, Shark Run, even more appealing this year because it fell on Halloween!! With our two Social Secs (Rob and James) being masters of the English language, they devised the idea of calling this year’s event…drum roll please…’SPOOKY Shark Run’.

To mark the occasion, our sharks (Rob Hilton and Becca Lin), terrorised the rest of the club with RED (not blue) paint. Rob later stated that being a shark in his fourth year at UCL was the proudest moment of his life.

Our two sharks for the evening (Check out the pristine DIY job on the fin and t-shirt from Becca)

After starting our mission at ULU, swimmers attempted, but failed miserably, to evade the two sharks in a route that went via the Main Quad, The Northumberland Arms, The Court and The Fitzrovia. Eventually finishing at Roxy which suffered from some serious queue management issues, many of the team could be seen enjoying a McDonald’s, whilst waiting for the 29 and covered head to toe in red paint.

Another fantastic evening for the team and we are looking forward to many more throughout the year!

Outside the Fitzrovia – lots of smiles, red paint and cheese balls

[26/10/2019]

Another year, another pilgrimage to Cambridge, and yet again, UCLUSC did not disappoint. Well rested after a two-hour coach journey from the Royal Albert Hall, we arrived at the educational capital of the UK in suitably respectable style, goggles in one hand, KFC Bargain Bucket in the other, to take on anybody that stood in our way.

Possibly due to the debatable pre-competition nutritional tactics, particularly from the two Robs, and the fact that we were missing some key players, the team has seen better days in the pool. Nevertheless, plaudits must be given to John Telensky and Anna Spentzou for tackling the 100 fly! Also, special mention to our VP, Becca Lin, for swimming…well everything really.

We then enjoyed a delicious Thai meal before heading off to mark our territory at the Regal! With the theme being Tube Stations, our ingenuity in costume design demonstrated why we all deserve to be at UCL. From Chalk Famers to Nuns (Seven Sisters), from Napoleon (Waterloo) to Shepherds (Bush), our team impressed every innocent onlooker in town.

Despite briefly worrying (halfway down the motorway) that we had left the entire Imperial team behind in Cambridge, we were informed that they had actually all taken the train back to London earlier that evening. Once again, UCL had shown its superiority.

Thanks for a great trip everyone, especially to the Fitness team for coming along to support!

See you all next year!

[19/10/2019]

UCL Swimming Club’s first competitive outing of the season did not disappoint, with us winning the year’s first round of London League.

Leaving all other London universities in our wake, including Imperial, Kings and Brunel, UCL dominated both the individual and relay events to conquer London League yet again. Despite fearsome tactics by Brunel in the 8x50m mixed freestyle relay of putting their four male swimmers on the first four legs, UCL fought from almost a length behind to touch the wall first – is there nothing we can’t overcome?!

Special mention must go to our elite performers in Goggy, Maya, Oskar, Alvin, Janis, James, Daniel and our resident captains: the ‘Mighty Medic’ Rebecca and the ‘Fake Frenchman’ Justin. Apologies if I missed anyone out (please blame Rob Brunton).

We celebrated by taking a classic team victory photo in the pool after the afternoon’s rather undramatic events. It must be noted however that this was after all the other teams had done exactly the same thing…maybe we should let them know that they have nothing to celebrate?

Onto the next round and well done team!