This year’s intake of freshers landed the first meaningful blow against The Other Place in the annual Freshers’ Athletics Varsity match. They may have just arrived at Cambridge but they already know the drill. This was the 10th straight victory for Cambridge against Oxford.
Laying down a marker so early on will provide a encourging base for the rest of year, as CUAC showed they will have a team full of promise, as well as their established stars. The fresher athletes showed their strength, pulling out some fantastic performances out of season and in the middle of week 5.

The women’s competition was won comfortably – 105 to Oxfords 84 – whilst the men’s match kept everyone on their toes. Cambridge fought hard to take the trophy with 96 points to Oxford’s 94. Athlete of the match was awarded to Onakeno Mario-Ghae of Girton for his exceptional performances in the Long Jump and High Jump. The latter was won with a jump of 1m 93cm, just 2cm short of Blues standard.

Onakeno Mario-Ghae was a star performer on the day

Each event features two competitors from each university. Cambridge excelled in the jumping events, with a Cambridge one-two for both the men’s and women’s long jump, triple jump and high jump events.

The Cambridge men were also particularly strong in the middle distance track events: Lloyd Hilton of Jesus won both the 400m and the 800m, Roger Poolman took victory over 1,500m, and fellow Queens’ athlete Will Ryle-Hodges came first in the 3,000m. Rebecca McLean and Joy Lisney took a Cambridge one-two in the 400m whilst Emily Dudgeon and Rebecca Moore secured another one-two in the 3,000m. The women’s team won both their relay events to round up a superb day of events.

Freshers revel in their early success against The Other Place

The match was full of strong performances that the Cambridge athletes can be proud of. This was an encouraging result for CUAC and the team look set to retain their winning streak in the main Varsity Match on May 19th with the help of this year’s crop of fresh talent.

The sun was shining at Wilberforce Road on Saturday as CUAC did what they do best and produced another unbelievable 4-0 victory.

Exceptional performances by the Cambridge teams have ensured that the 137th Varsity Match will go down in history. Not only did the Men’s and Women’s Blues teams win by record-breaking margins but the Alverstones and Alligators also left their Oxford Rivals standing.

Rhys Hodnett and Leo Scott set the standard, once the events got underway, both clearing 43m in the Men’s Blues Hammer competition, taking the first one-two of the day for Cambridge.

The Men’s Long Jump saw an unexpected win from Alex Jackson, who achieved the Blues’ standard on his first attempt. Women’s captain Emma Perkins put in a fantastic performance, taking first place in the High Jump, Triple Jump and Long Jump, to go with her 100m Hurdles win on the track.

CUAC legend Louis Persent easily won the men’s 400m Hurdles followed by Andy Lomas. Persent also took the gold in the Men’s High Jump and the 200m, completing a track one-two with Men’s Captain Mark Dyble, who went on to win the 100m.

Naomi Taschimowitz ran a personal best of 4:21:84 to finish in first place in the Women’s Blues 1500m, 30 seconds clear of the first Oxford runner. Rory Graham-Watson won the 400m and the 800m in the Men’s competition.

The Steeplechase proved to be a stong event for Cambridge. Soren Linder won the Men’s Blues race and Polly Keen set a match record, winning the 2k Steeplechase in 7:00:67 minutes.

The Men’s Discus was won by Rowing Blue Hardy Cubasch closely followed by Ryan Harper. Toby Haseler cleared the Blue’s distance to win the Shot. Meanwhile Laura Duke and Helen Broadbridge dominated the Women’s Throws, between them winning the Hammer, Discus and Shot.

Josh Mouland proved to be a key player for the Alverstones, winning the 110m Hurdles, 400m Hurdles, Pole Vault and the Shot. Clare Palmery convincingly won the Shot, Discus, Javelin and High Jump for the Cambridge Alligators.

There were many outstanding performances from CUAC athletes but the victory was truly a team effort. The support and encouragement that CUAC provided on the day was second to none.

The relays were a clean sweep, with an outstanding last leg from Louis Persent in the Men’s 4×400m ensuring that CUAC finished on a high.

The fierce rivalry between the Light and Dark Blues is unique in its intensity but something that always inspires some unexpected and truly phenomenal performances on the day. It is a rivalry that motivates athletes in the cold, dark depths of winter to get out and train; a rivalry that pushes athletes to their limits when they come face-to-face with competitors from the Other Place.

The CUAC athletes demonstrated what can be achieved with a lot of hard work, motivation and team spirit. This was a victory that the club fought hard for and that is well and truly deserved.

CUAC had some very promising performances at the BUCS Championships, held in Bedford from 30^th April-2^nd May. The men’s team finished 15th in the team competition with 10 points and the women’s team finished 12th with 15 points. Highlights from the weekend include:

Emma Perkins – Gold in the high jump with a new CUAC record and PB of 1.81m

Polly Keen – Silver in the 2000m steeplechase with a new CUAC record and PB of 7:05.09

Lizzie Thompson – Excellent season opener in the 400m hurdles, just missing the Blues time with 65.11

Toby Haseler – 4^th place in the shot, achieving the Blues standard and adding over a metre to his PB with 13.78m

Chris Bannon – 6^th in the 5000m in a new PB of 14:56.81

Matt Houlden – 8^th place in the triple jump with a solid jump of 13.85m

Ryan Harper – 8^th place in the discus with 38.65m

Nyma Sharifi – 400m hurdles PB of 59.61

Rhys Hodnett – Qualified for the hammer final with a new PB of 43.06m

Every fresher has lectures, most freshers end up in Cindies and some of them catch the dreaded flu yet very few have the chance, just five weeks into their first term, to represent the University in a Varsity Match. An honour it was then for the thirty athletes who travelled to Oxford last weekend for the 66^th Annual Athletics Freshers’ Varsity Match.

The men’s and women’s teams had two trophies to defend and a clean sweep of victories in 2010 to protect. And donning the light blue vest for the first time it was Rhys Hodnett and Helen Broadbridge who kicked off the day’s proceedings with convincing victories in the men’s and women’s Hammer events to take the Cambridge University Athletics Club into an early lead in both matches. Broadbridge’s throw of 43.60m was also a match record and resulted in her being awarded the Freshmen’s Medal for the best performance of the day.

These morale-boosting openers were followed up by notable performances in the 400m Hurdles from seasoned athlete, James Griffith, taking first place in a personal best time of 59.9 and debutant Johnian, Nyma Sharifi, to take CUAC’s first clean sweep of the day.

But with each university taking it in turns to share the lead in both matches it was clear the day was going to be a lot closer than last year’s light blue exhibition.

Cambridge did not have it all their way then with Oxford dominating in the middle to long distance events. Noeila Ferruz’s 2:29.4s win in the women’s 800m was outshone by Ella Waldman efforts in the 3000m for the Dark Blues. Whilst the home side’s Fraser Scott looked truly magnificent in both the 1500m and 3km race in the men’s match running three times Blues cross-country runner Matt Clark into the ground.

Despite an unfortunate disqualification in the 100m flat, Petrian, Helena Wace, was able to pick herself up and win the 100m hurdles race by a convincing margin. It was a performance that only served to confirm her status as one of the brightest new talents in Cambridge athletics after her chance discovery in the Cuppers competition last month.

Meanwhile the men’s side were thankful to have landed a Hungarian junior international in the shape of David Szabo whose experience shone through taking victories in the Javelin, Long Jump and Triple Jump. Szabo’s technical prowess was matched by decathlete Matthew Houlden who scored valuable points in the 110m Hurdles, 100m and Triple Jump.

By the time of the final events of the day – the relays - both titles were secured and the Cambridge quartets could enter the 4×100m and 4×400m events with smiles on their faces and the joy of their first victory over the Other Place to spur them on. And that they did taking victories in them all with notable legs from Wace in the ladies 4×100m and a storming final leg 400m from Tim Campion-Smith of Clare.

So it’s one Varsity, one victory for the University Athletics Club so far this year. And although a closer affair than last year, the inclusion of the victorious new intake into the well-retained blues squads of last year means the athletes look set for another successful year. Perhaps what was more remarkable of the weekend’s competition was the comments of both recent and older alumni from both universities at the impressive noise, support and encouragement generated by the visiting side. It is this team spirit and mature attitude as much as the fresh talent that won CUAC its first fixture of the new academic year.