The United Hospitals Athletics Club is a historic athletics club that used to host the annual United Hospitals athletics competition. Since the disbanding of the club, London Universities and Colleges Athletics has organised the competition within the LUCA Indoor Championships. The competition has been held since 1867.

History

The club was formed on 31 May 1867 at the West Brompton running grounds. The club was set up by Mr. S. Edwin Jolly who held the position of treasurer during the early years of the club. The events held on 11 and 12 June 1869 at Beaufort House included; Flat Race 100 yards, Flat Race 250 yards, Flat Race 880 yards, Flat Race One Mile, Flat Race 2 miles, Hurdle Race 120 yards, Hurdle Race 440 yards,

High Jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

Long Jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, Throwing the Hammer, Throwing the Cricket Ball, Putting the Stone, Three Legged Race and Consolation Race 250 yards. King's, Guy's,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, St Thomas's,

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, St George's and St Mary's Medical Schools took part. For the fourth annual meeting in 1870 the event had to be moved to cater for a crowd of over 3000 spectators to the A.A.C Grounds, Lillie Bridge with 127 entries across all the different races. The first presidents of the club were highly esteemed physicians and surgeons, Sir William Fergusson 1867,

Sir Thomas Watson Thomas Watson, (1792 – 11 December 1882) was a British physician who is primarily known for describing the water hammer pulse found in aortic regurgitation in 1844. He was president of the Royal College of Physicians from 1862 to 1866. He wa ...

1868 and

Sir William Jenner Sir William Jenner, 1st Baronet, Order of the Bath, GCB, Physician Extraordinary to His Majesty, QHP, Royal College of Physicians, FRCP, Royal Society, FRS (30 January 181511 December 1898) was a significant English physician primarily known fo ...

1869. The club required a physician and surgeon from each participating hospital to serve as vice-presidents of the club, this secured funding for the various prizes and ensured its continuation from year to year. By the end of the 19th century the club held events at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

United Hospitals Athletics Shield

The shield is given to the medical school with the largest number of points at the end of the annual event. The shield has been awarded since 1867. It is believed to be an electroplated copy of the Milton Shield, depicting scenes from John Milton's Paradise Lost. The current holders of the shield are St George's Hospital AC. Medals were also awarded to winning competitors, but are no longer handed out.

Present state

The status and quality of the individual medical schools teams has varied considerably since their individual inception dates. Since the United Hospitals Athletics Club was formed, the institutions that are represented by the member teams have been through considerable change, and hand-in-hand with these changes in the institutions have been changes in the teams that represent them. Thus all of the teams except St George's are formed of more than one of the historical London medical schools. Furthermore, after being proposed for membership in 2008,MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of United Hospitals RFC, May 2008
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Royal Veterinary College , mottoeng = Confront disease at onset , established = (became a constituent part of University of London in 1949) , endowment = £10.5 million (2021) , budget = £106.0 million (20 ...

officially joined the United Hospitals in 2009. The club no longer exists as a functioning athletics club, but the shield is still awarded at the United Hospitals Athletics Championships. This event has been incorporated into the LUCA Indoor Championships and is awarded by

LUCA The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population from which all organisms now living on Earth share common descent—the most recent common ancestor of all current life on Earth. This includes all cellular organisms; th ...

. The Bannister Cup, named after St Mary's Hospital alumnus Sir Roger Bannister, is the United Hospitals Cross Country Championships and is awarded at the third LUCA race held at Wimbledon Common in November. Scoring teams consist of the first three men and first two women from each university. The current holders are St George's Hospital AC.

Members

Shield winners

1867 Guy's 1868 St George's 1869 King's 1870 King's 1871 Guy's 1872 Guy's 1873 Barts 1874 King's 1875 St George's 1876 St George's 1877 Guy's 1878 Guy's 1879 St Thomas's 1880 St Thomas's 1881 St Thomas's 1882 St Thomas's 1883 St Thomas's 1884 London 1885 Barts 1886 Barts 1887 Barts 1888 Barts 1889 Barts 1890 Barts 1891 Barts 1892 Guy's 1893 Guy's 1894 Barts 1895 Guy's 1896 St Mary's 1897 St Mary's 1898 St Mary's 1899 Barts 1900 St Mary's 1901 Barts 1902 Barts 1903 Barts 1904 London 1905 London 1906 London 1907 London 1908 Barts 1909 London 1910 London St Thomas 1911 London 1912 London 1913 London 1914 London 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 Guy's 1921 King's 1922 Guy's 1923 Barts 1924 Guy's 1925 Barts 1926 Guy's 1927 Guy's 1928 Guy's 1929 Guy's 1930 St Thomas's 1931 St Thomas's 1932 St Thomas's 1933 Barts 1934 Barts 1935 Guy's 1936 1937 Guy's 1938 1939 London 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 Guy's 1948 Barts 1949 Barts 1950 1951 1952 London 1953 London 1954 St Mary's 1955 London 1956 Guy's 1957 Guy's 1958 Guy's 1959 St Mary's 1960 1961 St Mary's 1962 St Mary's 1963 St Thomas's 1964 Guy's 1965 1966 Guy's 1967 Guy's 1968 Guy's 1969 Guy's 1970 Guy's 1971 Guy's 1972 Guy's 1973 Guy's 1974 Guy's 1975 Barts 1976 Barts 1977 Westminster 1978 Westminster 1979 Westminster 1980 King's 1981 1982 St Thomas's 1983 St Thomas's 1984 1985 1986 Guy's 1987 1988 1989 1990 St Mary's 1991 St Mary's 1992 St Mary's 1993 St Mary's 1994 St Mary's 1995 Barts 1996 Barts and the London 1997 Barts and the London 1998 Barts and the London 1999 Barts and the London 2000 Barts and the London 2001 Barts and the London 2002 Barts and the London 2003 Barts and the London 2004 ICSM 2005 ICSM 2006 ICSM 2007 ICSM 2008 ICSM 2009 ICSM 2010 ICSM 2011 ICSM 2012 ICSM 2013 ICSM 2014 ICSM 2015 ICSM 2016 GKT (King's College) 2017 St George's 2018 The Royal Veterinary College 2019 St George's 2021 St George's

References

External links

UL AthleticsLUCA
{{United Hospitals Sports clubs established in 1867 United Hospitals sports clubs Athletics clubs in England 1867 establishments in England