UCL Running, Athletics and Cross Country (RAX for short) is a club for anyone interested in running, cross country, track and field, or multi-events at UCL. We welcome all levels of experience, and provide training opportunities for complete beginners, elite athletes, and anyone in between.
TRAINING
If you're looking to get into running, we run a Couch to 5K programme where you'll alternate running and walking until you can run a continuous 5K. This takes place on Saturday mornings in Regent's Park.
If you're looking for some social running, we have Social Runs on Monday evenings and Wednesday afternoons. At these runs, we always have at least a 5K group, an 8K group and a 10-12K group, all running at different paces to accommodate for different levels. These runs take place in or around Regent's Park and we meet up outside Bloomsbury Theatre.
For long distance running, you can join Highgate Harriers at Parliament Hill Fields Athletics Track on Tuesdays for intervals on the track. We also run interval or hills sessions on Thursday evenings in Regent's Park or at Primrose Hill, and on Sundays we do a long run which will typically have two groups running different paces and distances.
If you're looking for Athletics, we collaborate with Highgate Harriers who run training for sprints, middle distance, jumps, and throws on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Parliament Hill Fields Athletics Track. There is also a Saturday morning 400m session at Highgate Harriers.
We collaborate with UCL's Project Active to host post-graduate runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and This Girl Can women's only runs on Fridays.
FIXTURES
Throughout the year, we compete in numerous athletics and cross country fixtures with other London universities that are managed by the London Universities and Colleges Athletics Association (LUCA), suitable for everyone from beginners to track and XC veterans. We also compete at BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) for the cross country, indoor athletics, and outdoor athletics national championships, as well as many other team distance-running events throughout the year.
A highlight of our competitive year is the Varsity rivalry outdoor athletics match against King's College London. The match takes place in March every year and involves a number of socials leading up to it to spark team spirit.
SOCIALS
We always have a variety of socials planned throughout the year, so keep an eye on our social media to see what's on!! Notably, our socials include:
- Christmas Potluck
- Inter-university running clubs boat ball
- Wednesday Sports Nights, board games night, brunch runs, athletics watch parties, and more.
TOURS
We aim to offer two tours per academic year, one in the autumn term and the second in the spring term. In 2024-25, we organized a running tour to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to trail run and a trip to the Isle of Man to participate in the annual running festival.
OUTREACH AND FUNDRAISING
We take on many different outreach and fundraising initiatives throughout the year, including a half-marathon fundraising team, charity run partnerships with different societies at UCL, Pride Month fundraisers, and volunteering with the UCL Campus Runs.
For more information, have a look at our Instagram: @ucl_rax. Message us on our social media to join our Whatsapp Group with all the most recent updates!
