Team of the week: Meet the Athletics Club

Meet the club that train at an international stadium every week.

Our very own athletics club hone their skills at Meadowbank Stadium, the home of the 1972 Commonwealth Games.

They’re one of the biggest sports clubs at the university, but are now faced with a massive hurdle as the stadium is due to be demolished next year, with no new training facility currently being planned.

Meadowbank Stadium

The club are still a cheerful bunch though with their welcoming environment, wild socials and competitive spirit.

Club captain James Morehen told us that the club prides itself on being inclusive to athletes of all abilities.

He said: “Actually the most rewarding thing is seeing a girl come here who is naturally very good but has never had proper training and seeing them develop over time.

“We teach people how to train in a way that isn’t too intimidating and seeing people improve is always great to see.”

Women’s captain Rachel Salmond and Men’s captain James Morehen

The club is one of the larger ones at Edinburgh, partly due to it being a mixed gender club.

James said: “There really are no negatives to having a mixed club, it means we don’t need to join with other clubs for socials.

“We have over 140 paid members this year and we’ve had as many as 70 people turn up to our training sessions.”

The indoor track

First year Sophie Parsons couldn’t hide her love for the club. She said: “I joined at the Freshers’ Fair and haven’t looked back. The club is so welcoming, they are like my favourite people, we have such good socials.

“Everyone gets really really drunk. We have one tonight which is Halloween themed. Definitely the best thing I’ve done at university so far.

“I’m dressing up as a Greek Goddess. We have athletics families that everyone is divided into, and each has their own theme. Ours is dead Greeks.”

Remember to stretch

Exchange student Luke Niu has a different perspective of the club than most. The Californian said: “I much prefer the athletics club here. It’s way more inclusive and socially it’s awesome. We work hard and play hard, we have some sort of training six days a week and we have our big socials about once a fortnight.”

Last year’s social sec Neil McBlane is particularly proud of their socials.

He said: “I came up with the Pubtathalon name. We had loads of fancy dress socials, the ‘tights and lights’ is a particular favourite. We do clothes swaps between the guys and girls sometimes, it’s all very fun.”

Dedicated training in the wet

Despite their mad socials, the club boasts a very successful competitive record as well.

James said: “One of current members Anna Nelson competed in the senior British Championships and World Trials, and a recent grad Ray Bobrownicki finished 9th in the Commonwealth Games last year.

“As a team we’re definitely in the top two in Scotland, it’s between us and Glasgow. We lost to them last week by a couple of points unfortunately.”

Well, at least they can beat St Andrew’s.