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.
The club was formed on 31 May 1867 at the West Brompton running grounds.[1] The club was set up by Mr. S. Edwin Jolly who held the position of treasurer during the early years of the club.[2] 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, Long Jump, Throwing the Hammer, Throwing the Cricket Ball, Putting the Stone, Three Legged Race and Consolation Race 250 yards.[3] King's, Guy's, London, St Thomas's, University College, St George's and St Mary's Medical Schools took part.[4] 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.[5] The first presidents of the club were highly esteemed physicians and surgeons, Sir William Fergusson 1867, Sir Thomas Watson 1868 and Sir William Jenner 1869.[6] 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.[7] By the end of the 19th century the club held events at Stamford Bridge[8]
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.[9] 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.
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,[10] The Royal Veterinary College 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 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.
| Charing Cross Hospital Medical School 1818-1984 | Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School 1984-1997 | Imperial College School of Medicine 1997- | |
| Westminster Hospital Medical School 1834-1984 | |||
| St Mary's Hospital Medical School 1854-1997 | |||
| Royal Postgraduate Medical School 1935-1997 | |||
| St George's Hospital Medical School | |||
| St Thomas's Hospital Medical School 1550-1982 | United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals 1982-1998 | King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry 1998- | |
| Guy's Hospital Medical School | |||
| King's College Medical School | |||
| Middlesex Hospital Medical School 1745-1987 | University College & Middlesex School of Medicine 1987-1998 | The Royal Free & University College Medical School 1998-2008 renamed UCL Medical School 2008- | |
| University College Hospital Medical School 1834-1987 | |||
| Royal Free Hospital Medical School 1874-1998 | |||
| St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College | Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry | ||
| The London Hospital Medical College | |||
| Royal Veterinary College 2009- | |||
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