For Our Free Exercise Class Experience

Tom Exeter
December 22, 2016

To celebrate the launch of our New Year Exercise Class Timetable, and to coincide with the release of Body Pump #100, we will be hosting a massive group exercise experience day.

We will be turning our sports halls into huge studios and some of the Les Mills instructors will be on site to teach.

This event is free for all and non members are welcome. So spread the word and pencil the date in.

Further details and a full timetable will be released early in the New Year. 

 

 

Brownlee Second at BBC SPOTY

Tilly Hall
December 21, 2016
Ali Brownlee winning at Olympic games in Rio 2016

Huge congratulations to University of Leeds Alumnus Alistair Brownlee who claimed second place in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2016. 

Alistair came second behind Andy Murray with 121,665 votes, a fantastic achievement.

It’s been a brilliant year for Alistair which began with him winning the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Series when it came to his homeland in Leeds, cheered on by thousands of fans in the city.

Alistair went on to become the first man to ever retain the Olympic men’s triathlon title, finishing ahead of brother and fellow alumnus Jonny who claimed the silver at Rio 2016.

In September Alistair made headlines again at the World Series final in Mexico when exhausted brother Jonny who was leading the race with 700m to go started to weave from side to side, after being hit with heat exhaustion. Alistair came round the corner, saw his brother and helped him run the final meters before pushing him over the line in second place. A very dramatic end to the Triathlon World Series and the ultimate show of sportsmanship from Alistair.

You can watch a video of the finish here. 

“It’s been a fantastic year for Alistair and we’re very proud of his achievements as an Alumnus of the University.”

Patrick Craig, Assistant Head of Sport at The University of Leeds.

Find out more about Alistair online here.

 

Varsity Is Back, Be Part Of It

Lucy Wood
December 2, 2016

Leeds Varsity back already? Yes, you’ve read that right. With the New Year comes the new Leeds Varsity 2017 series and we hope you’re as excited as we are!

Kick starting this year’s series is our Cross Country Varsity. Into its 6th year, this annual event has seen some impressive names battling for those all-important Varsity points; Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, Gordon Benson, Non Stanford and Tom Bishop to name a few. Don’t let that put you off though, because anyone can take part in this fantastic event.

Much like our parkrun Varsity, students, staff, alumni and members of the public are welcome to take part in this event. The top 6 women and top 12 men finishers will then gain points for their respective universities. With two separate races, an 10km male race, and a 6km female race, there are a total of 2 points up for grabs (more than the Rugby Union finale!). Last year the University of Leeds took both points and the cross country club will be looking to start the season as they mean to go on, and retain wins in both events.

So how do you get involved?

Student runners from their respective Universities will be pre-registerd by their coaches and are required to bring £2 on the day which goes straight to the race charity.

All other entries can be made on the day at the Leeds Beckett track pavilion on Saturday the 14th January. The women’s race will begin at 2pm on West Park fields (adjacent to Leeds Beckett) and the men’s at 2.30pm, so please arrive at least an hour before your race. Please bring £3 to enter the race, all proceeds go to the Hope Pastures charity who use your donations to rescue, rehabilitate and re-home horses, ponies and donkeys in need. You’ll even get to meet a few of their beneficiaries on the day!

The University of Leeds cross country coach, Greg Hull, has high hopes for the event:

“Varsity is always a fantastic day in the cross country calendar, seeing not just our students, but staff and members of the public taking part in an inevitably great race. The rivalry between the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett’s students is friendly but fierce as in all Varsity fixtures. I’m confident we’ll maintain our winning ways this year and pick up 2 points to start the series”

If you’d like to participate in the event but have further questions, please email sport@leeds.ac.uk.