The Achilles Club
All CUAC members who have competed for the University against Oxford are invited to join the Achilles Club. The Club is exclusively for past and present OUAC and CUAC members, and exists to help strengthen and maintain for life the friendships forged between University clubmates and their rivals at ‘the other place’. To this end the Achilles Club shoulders the following responsibilities:
Overseas tours
Every fourth year Achilles arranges a tour to the USA for a series of matches against the Ivy League Universities: this tour is exclusively for Oxford and Cambridge students, and all CUAC members are eligible for consideration for selection for one such tour. In the intervening years, Achilles hosts reciprocal matches for visiting American teams, which CUAC athletes are expected to support
Other major overseas tours are arranged which are open to all Achilles members, past and present students alike: these are a particularly enjoyable way of broadening athletic, social and geographic horizons. In September 2002 Achilles visited Singapore (winning 14 medals in their National
Championships) and Australia (where they were royally received by Sydney University AC). In recent years Achilles teams have toured to Austria, China (twice), Japan, Hong Kong and South Africa, and undertaken shorter domestic trips to e.g. the Channel Islands and the Isle of Wight.
The recent Achilles tour to Singapore and Sydney www.achilles.org
Domestic competition
Achilles enters teams for several matches in the UK each year. They offer good class competition and a friendly opportunity for past and present members of CUAC and OUAC to compete together.
Social Events
Several Achilles events are held each year, including dinners and dances. There is always a dinner for old members after the Varsity Match; a dinner in New York is becoming an annual fixture; a Ball is often held in London; and impromptu barbecues and curries after matches are commonplace.
A mixture of Achilles Athletes, old and new
Administration
Most of the organisational structure which gives continuity to events like the Varsity match is provided by the Achilles Club. The President, Captains and Hon. Sec of CUAC, and their immediate Past-President, are all ex officio members of the Achilles Club committee.
Finance
CUAC could not function in the way it does without the finance it receives from Achilles members’ subscriptions and older members’ voluntary charitable donations to the Achilles Trust.
To be invited to join Achilles’ illustrious membership is considered an honour, and enables members to maintain contact for life with contemporaries and with CUAC. Visit the Club’s own website and check out pictures of recent tours, balls, and stats of past varsity matches and much more.
CUAC’s Achilles Representative for the coming year is Geoff Hill (gbh24@cam.ac.uk).
