UCLan's Sports Awards nominations

UCLan Golf have been shortlisted in the 'Senior Team Performance of the Year' category at the upcoming Preston Sports Awards 2014.

Our 1st team swept all before them in BUCS Premier League North, winning the title with a 100% record. They went on to reach the National Championship final, eventually losing out to Exeter 1st. The 2nd & 3rd teams also enjoyed successful campaigns in Northern Division 1A, finishing first and third respectively.

Golf programme director David Grecic commented: "This nomination is wonderful recognition of the outstanding performances of all three of our teams. Two of our teams won their respective leagues, while our first team reached the final of the British knock-out championships and represented the university and city with distinction. My congratulations go to each and every member of the team."

Second Year Sports Coaching student and Sport 4 U volunteer Jordan Radwell has also been shortlisted in the 'Young Volunteer of the Year' category. Jordan has volunteered with Sport 4 U throughout his studies and quickly become a key part of the team.

Jordan leads the planning and delivery of the weekly Saturday sessions which are currently Futsal, Dodgeball and 3v3 basketball. As well as the Sport 4 U work, he is also the Chair of the Basketball club and coaches U12s at All Hallows High School on a voluntary basis.

Sport 4 U's Rick Barnes said: "It's fantastic to see Jordan shortlisted for this award. We're very lucky to have Jordan as part of the Sport 4 U team, as he has had made a great contribution during his time with us. He epitomises everything you want in a volunteer and we're proud that we can assist in his development."

A total of 17 awards are up for grabs, with UCLan sponsoring the Junior Team Performance of the Year Award. The event takes place on Friday, 7 March at Preston Guild Hall and features former Olympic athlete Jason Gardener as guest speaker. For more details on the awards categories please click here.

BUCS round-up

UCLan Netball 1st, Men's Football 1st, Men's Tennis 1st & Women's Fencing 1st teams have all progressed through to the Conference Cup Semi-finals.

Netball 1st secured their slot with a thrilling 53-52 success against Leeds Met Carnegie 2nd, while Men's Football 1st won 3-2 at home to Newcastle 2nd. Men's Tennis 1st beat Chester 1st 10-2 and Women's Fencing triumphed 131-93 against Bradford 1st.

Golf 1st are through to the BUCS National Championship Quarter-final after a 5-1 win against Buckingham New 1st, but our 2nd & 3rd teams both lost in the BUCS Trophy.

Our Men's Indoor Cricket Team have won their league and progressed through to the knockout tournament at Headingley, where they will compete against some of the best indoor teams in the UK.

UCLan Rugby League, Men's Hockey 1st, Netball 3rd, Women's Badminton 1st and Squash 1st all failed to progress in their respective knockout competitions.

In league action, Men's Rugby Union 1st & Men's Fencing 1st both slipped to defeats, but Men's Football 3rd beat Liverpool John Moores 3rd 3-0, while the 5th team drew 2-2 at Keele 4th.

UCLan sprints to first ever final

UCLan's Athletics team took part in the annual BUCS Indoor Athletic Championships at Sheffield and produced some excellent results.

For the first time in their history, our 4 x 200m team reached the final, with James Taylor, Jason Conchie, Sam Landsborough and Oliver Lithgow clocking a time of 1:31.44 to advance from their semi-final.

Unfortunately, after winning his individual 200m heat in 22.50, Oliver picked up a hamstring injury, allowing Tom Booth to step in for the final. The team clocked 1:34.40 to secure fifth place. Sam also reached the 60m semi-final along with team-mate Jordan Toth, while Georgie Ivens reached the same stage in the 400m. Georgie hopes to use her early season form to reach the outdoor final later this year.

Danny Savin achieved 23.60 in his 200m heat and Adam Cameron clocked a new personal best 55.6 in the 400m. James Taylor completed the 60m hurdles in 8.54, with Tom Booth clocking 10.04 in the same event.

Andy Miles and Alex Waddelove came 6th & 7th in the 1500m heats, while Shaun Barnsley and Michael Smith achieved indoor personal bests in the 3000m. Rebecca Neil finished 8th in her 3000m heat, agonisingly missing out on her best time by just 3/10th of a second, and Bethany Mitchell finished 8th in qualifying for the 4k Shot Put.

Following the superb achievement of reaching their first ever final, the team will look to continue their progress in the Lancaster Cup on March 22nd ahead of the BUCS Outdoor Championships in Bedford on May 3rd.

Yali claims Table Tennis bronze

UCLan's Yali Wang secured a bronze medal after an exciting weekend of competition at the BUCS Individual Table Tennis Championships 2014.

Yali, and team-mates Victor Cai, Zhanzun Ma and Zhou Dingh, travelled to Nottingham for the two day tournament which featured a number of the country's top players.

After topping her group with a 100% record, Yali faced England's No. 11 ranked player Abbie Milwaine in the first knockout round and edged a thrilling contest 3-2. In the quarter-final she cruised past England No. 17 Natalie Slater, but found Durham University's Clara Hai Qing a tough opponent in the last four, eventually losing 3-0. Clara went on to comfortably win the final.

UCLan Performance Table Tennis Coach Graham Coupe was delighted with the result: "I'm very proud of Yali. She's an incredible asset to UCLan in both team and individual competitions, and also training where she sets a great example to the other players. I wish I could take some of the credit, but her performance was all down to herself."

Victor also progressed through the group stage and his first round match, before falling to highly-rated Richard Main from Scotland.

BUCS round-up

UCLan Rams kept their American Football play-off hopes alive with a 36-0 win against Bangor. Rams must now wait for other results to determine if they qualify for the end of season shoot-out.

Men's Football 1st reached the Cup quarter-final after a 3-1 win at Hull 1st. Netball 3rd are also through to the same stage of their cup competition after a 31-30 win at home to Bangor 2nd. Men's Hockey 1st, Women's Rugby Union 1st & Women's Volleyball 1st were knocked out of their respective competitions.

Men's Football 3rd & 4th both slipped to league defeats, but our 5th team won 5-1 at home to Keele 4th. There were mixed fortunes for our Hockey 2nd teams at Bangor 2nd. The Men's team lost 11-0, but the Women secured a 1-0 victory. Men's Rugby Union 2nd won 27-22 at home to Bangor 2nd.

Golf 2nd won 5.5-0.5 at Lincoln 2nd, while our 3rd team triumphed 5-1 at home to Leeds Met Carnegie 2nd. Men's Tennis 1st edged closer to promotion with a 12-0 home win against Liverpool Hope 1st. Men's Basketball 1st won 84-70 at home to Newcastle 1st.

BUCS round-up

UCLan Golf 1st team won their final two games to clinch the BUCS Premier League North crown.

They followed a 6-0 victory against Leeds Met Carnegie 1st with a 3.5-2.5 success against title rivals Northumbria 1st, and now face Buckingham New 1st in the last 16 of the National Championship.

Our 2nd team triumphed 4-2 against the 3rd team, who bounced back to defeat Liverpool 1st 4-2.

UCLan Rams American Football team kept their play-off hopes alive with a 22-0 win at Manchester. Men's Rugby Union 2nd lost 21-9 at Chester 2nd.

Men's Football 2nd lost 4-2 in the cup at Newcastle 2nd, while in the league our 3rd team drew 2-2 at Cumbria 1st and the 4th team lost 4-1 at Lancaster 1st.

Netball 1st are through to the cup quarter-final after an 84-26 win at home to Northumbria 4th, but our 2nd team crashed 91-21 at York St John 1st.

Men's Volleyball, Women's Hockey 1st, Men's Badminton 1st & Women's Tennis 1st were all knocked out of their respective cup competitions, but Men's Tennis 1st, Women's Table Tennis 1st, Men's Squash 1st & Men's Fencing 1st all progressed to the next round.

Men's Tennis 2nd lost 12-0 in the league at Huddersfield 1st. Men's Cricket lost to Liverpool John Moores, but recovered to beat Bangor.

BUCS round-up

UCLan Netball 1st clinched promotion to BUCS Northern League Division 1A with a 51-29 win at Manchester Metropolitan 1st.

Our 2nd team beat Liverpool 3rd 31-24, while the 3rd team need one more win to secure promotion from Division 7A after a 55-31 victory against Keele 3rd.

Men's Football 1st team saw their promotion hopes dented with a 1-0 defeat at Liverpool 1st. Our 2nd, 3rd & 4th teams all lost, but the 5th team beat UCFB Burnley 3rd 2-0.

UCLan Rugby League retained their 100% record with a 38-4 win at Salford 1st. Men's Rugby Union 1st & 2nd teams were both defeated. UCLan Rams American Football team won 38-8 at Lancaster 1st.

Women's Hockey 1st won 5-1 at Manchester 4th. Men's Basketball 1st won 64-58 at Manchester 1st, while Women's 1st lost 91-30 at Lancaster 1st. Women's Volleyball 1st lost to Manchester 2nd, but picked up victories against Keele 1st & Hull 1st.

Women's Badminton 1st edged closer to promotion from Division 2A with a 6-2 win against Liverpool 1st. Men's 1st & 2nd teams lost heavily at Keele 1st & 2nd, while there were also defeats for both our Men's Table Tennis teams.

Squash 1st lost 4-1 at Keele 1st, Men's & Women's Fencing teams were both defeated and Men's Lacrosse 1st crashed 11-1 against Manchester 2nd.

UCLan Golf 1st kept their Premier Division North title hopes alive with a 5.5-0.5 win at Nottingham 1st. The 2nd team won 5-1 at home to Sheffield 1st and our 3rd team beat Leeds Met Carnegie 2nd 4-2.

Handball ladies capture trophy

UCLan's Handball teams

UCLan's Handball teams put on an impressive show in a thrilling tournament at Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre.

Teams from Lancaster, Bangor and Huddersfield joined UCLan for the event, which ended with silverware for our Women’s team and a runners-up finish for the Men.

With UCLan working hard towards establishing Handball as a recognised BUCS sport, club chairman Nick Gaunt was delighted with the tournament's success.

"We’ve not heard from BUCS whether Handball will be given more funding in the coming years, but I'm hopeful the more tournaments universities arrange, the more we'll be taken notice of," said Nick.

"There are a lot of more well-known, well-funded sports out there, but for clubs who are struggling to keep going the lack of funds can really hinder the amount of opportunities available to them.

"Both our teams played extremely well and I'd also like to say thank you to all the other teams for attending and boosting the publicity of the sport in their respective universities."

For further details about the club and how to get involved please email Nick.

Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre round-up

It's been a busy start to 2014 at Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre (STFSC), with a host of new events and activities on offer.

The STFSC's Khalid Afzal told us more: "We kicked off January with the Young Ambassadors Youth Conference. This event included workshops aimed at High School students for them to become young sports ambassadors at their schools. The atmosphere on the day was great and, believe it or not, we even had sunshine in Preston!

"It was great for us too, as our own students led an outdoor activity based session which the young ambassadors could teach at their schools. On top of all that, we had two Athletes lecturing on the day; Jenna Downing, 10-time British and World In-line Skating Champion and Sophie Cox, a British Judo Champion and competitor at the London 2012.

"We also introduced about a brand new fitness event - Everybody Bootcamp. It's an intense Bootcamp session, but with more exercises, more instructors and even more fun! This was an hour and a half session, opening with an army themed mobility exercise, followed by a bit of dodgeball, then leading into the core Bootcamp session with various exercise stations.

"This was all topped off with an exclusive pirate ship game - don’t fall off the 'pirate ship' or you're out! With such a great turn out and fantastic buzz, this could be one to look out for at STFSC future.

"For the rest of the semester we'll continue to bring you events and competitions such as the 5-a-side Football league, STFSC Dodgeball tournament, our infamous Aerobathon and many more. Please keep up-to-date with us on Facebook and Twitter."