After the double victories at Freshers’ Varsity in November, there was a feeling of excitement in the university athletics team as they travelled down to London for the annual Indoor Varsity Field events and relays match. The team made an excellent start winning both the men’s and women’s hammer competitions. In the latter, Laura Duke of Newnham broke the individual record with a phenomenal throw of 45.31 in the second round, which also contributed to the team record. Duke had a busy day, also winning the shot, finishing second in the pole vault and long jump, and competing in the discus and 60m Hurdles. Another Newnhamite, Emma Perkins had a successful day winning the high, long and triple jumps respectively and breaking the individual record in the high jump with a leap of 1m69. In the shot, all four of the Cambridge competitors threw further than anyone from Oxford demonstrating the quality in the team. The light blue women showed their strength in the field, winning five out of the eight team events.

On the track, the Cambridge women were even more dominant, losing only one event, the 60m Hurdles. Women’s captain, Kate Laidlow had a superb day, breaking the individual record in the 60m, anchoring the 4×200m team to a convincing victory and running the fastest leg in the women’s 4×400m. She was ably backed up by President, Lucy Spray who anchored the 4×400m team to another emphatic win. The Cambridge ‘B’ team also beat Oxford in the 4×400m demonstrating the quality and depth of the Cambridge women this year. In the middle distance races, the Oxford teams were extremely poor, but even without being pushed the Cambridge women showed their talent. In the 3×800m, Rose Penfold and Christie Noble both achieved the half blue standard, whilst fresher Katie Sandford only missed it by a second. In the 3×1500m the light blue women lapped Oxford three times with Rosemary Pringle breaking five minutes for the first time on the opening leg.

The men’s track team faced much harder competition from their dark blue rivals, but still came out on top, winning all but two events. In the 60m the Cambridge men clinched victory with Mark Dyble, Louis Persent and the first Oxford athlete breaking the previous individual record. Dyble had a stunning run in the 4×200m to secure a light blue victory by just a few tenths of a second. Persent, a world junior silver medallist, showed his class on the final leg of the 4×400m teasing the Oxford runner by easing round the first lap just ahead before comfortably striding away from him in the last 100m. Rory Graham-Watson also had a tough day running solid legs in the 4×200m, 4×400m and 4×800m respectively. In the latter of these he ran six seconds quicker than any other competitor in the event. The prize for the most inspirational performance of the day has to go to Eamonn Katter, who pulled out a superb leg in the 4×200m to move Cambridge into pole position, as well as running a strong leg in the 4×400m.

In the field, Oxford also pulled out some strong performances as a reminder to the light blues that they cannot be complacent going into the Varsity match in May. The dark blues had five individual victories in the field compared to Cambridge’s three. But the Cambridge teams fought hard to retain the field trophy they had won last year. Ayo Adeyemi pulled out a huge jump in the men’s triple jump to clinch victory for the youthful Cambridge team, as well as contributing to the team success in the long jump. The pole vault was the highlight of the men’s field for Cambridge who not only broke the team record, but would have still won without their top scorer counting. Nate Sharpe vaulted the blues standard height to take the Cambridge men to a convincing victory, ably supported by Tom Wagner, Josh Mouland and Alex Bates.

The Cambridge women claimed victory in the match for the first time in five years, but know they will face a much stronger Oxford side in May. At the start of this academic year, this Cambridge men’s team was seen as a development squad that would not pose a strong challenge to Oxford, but they are already proving that they have the quality to cause a big upset in May. Travelling to Oxford in May will have with it new challenges that the Cambridge squad must face, but for now there is great confidence within the team on which they hope to build over the coming weeks.

It was a small, select team of university athletes who travelled up to Sheffield for the annual RAF match against the armed forces and Loughborough, Brunel and Leeds metropolitan universities. The team produced some good performances despite being few in number. In the men’s pole vault competition, Tom Wagner achieved a seasons best performance of 3.80metres, looking in impressive form for the Varsity field events and relays match this Sunday. It was Tom’s best performance since he set his personal best in 2008 so it promises to be a good season for the Sidney Sussex athlete. Rosamund Healey also demonstrated her talent in the shot, throwing a solid 10.20 metres. Meanwhile, on the track, Owen Churton had a great day, running a lifetime best time in the 200m to take 7^th place. Henry Husband of Trinity ran well in both the 200m and the 60m recording a personal best time by a tenth of a second in the latter.

There were also some strong performances on the track from the Cambridge women. Women’s captain, Kate Laidlow finished 2^nd in the 400m in an indoor best time of 58.15s and anchored the 4×200m relay team to 3^rd place. Fresher Lizzie Thompson fought hard in the 400m to finish 3^rd in her heat, as well as running a good leg of the relay. Another fresher, Nikki Moss showed that she was finding some consistency in her form producing two solid performances in the 60m and 200m and putting the relay team in a great position after the first leg. The relay team was completed by President Lucy Spray, who also finished 3^rd in the 200m. Natalie Arrowsmith of Newnham proved that she is one of the most improved athletes in CUAC by running a personal best in the 200m, despite feeling that the race had not gone that well, further proving what great shape she is in.

A much larger team will now face Oxford on Sunday in the Indoor Varsity Field Events and Relays match at Lee Valley in London. But if the RAF match is anything to go by, the team is in good shape and should go into the fixture against the dark side displaying great confidence.

Wilberforce Road was the venue for the rather chilly 65^th anniversary of the Freshers’ Varsity athletics match on Sunday. The Freshers’ Varsity match traditionally has been a very difficult match to predict with neither side knowing what to expect from their opponents. The light blues began the day well with Lizzie Thompson of Trinity Hall and Christian Roberts of St John’s taking wins in the women’s and men’s 400m Hurdles races respectively.

Thompson certainly proved her talent in winning four individual events throughout the day; the 200m, high jump and 100m hurdles to add to her impressive 400m hurdles victory. She will be one to watch come the Blues Varsity match in May. Rosamund Healey of Pembroke took a fantastic double in the hammer and the shot, despite only taking up the hammer a couple of weeks prior to the match. Kathryn Hesketh, a former Oxford blue, has finally seen the ‘light’ this year and showed her former club that there’s no going back by taking victory in the long jump. Cambridge dominated the women’s jumps with one-twos in the high jump and triple jump, Helen Stewart of Newnham the victor in the latter. The CUAC women showed their strength in depth in the 400m and middle distance races; Katie Sandford ran a great race in the 400m winning by more than 3 seconds to confirm the light blue one-two, whilst in the 800m Rose Penfold and Sophie Dundovic eased their way to another impressive one-two. Sandford, Penfold and Thompson were joined by Taj Tomouk in annihilating a dismal Oxford 4×400m relay team, with the Cambridge women winning by more than 200m. Nikki Moss demonstrated her sprinting ability in style with an inspiring win in the 100m and a very strong 2^nd leg in the 4×100m relay. By the time Thompson took the baton on the final leg of the relay, Cambridge were already clearly in front and they made light work of securing the win.

The Cambridge men were equally impressive in destroying their Oxford rivals, with ten different athletes taking event wins. Alex Jackson of Queens showed that he could be a very useful athlete for CUAC in the future, winning the long and high jumps respectively and taking second in the triple jump behind team-mate Ismael Akram of Emmanuel. The Cambridge men’s throws squad is certainly one of the club’s greatest assets this year with no less than eight men competing at the match. John Garrity, who also plays rugby league, won the hammer and placed second in the shot behind Toby Haseler of Corpus Christi. Tom Elton deserves a particular mention for his performance in the discus. Elton, under immense pressure, came from behind in the final round to clinch the victory for Cambridge at a pivotal moment in the match. From then on, it was no longer a question of whether Cambridge would win, but rather by how much. Americans Nate Sharpe and Ross Elliot won the pole vault and 110m hurdles respectively in their light blue debut. Whilst in the longer distances, the Cambridge men proved they were a force not to be messed with producing one-twos in both the 1500m and 3000m from Tom Nutt and Alex Young in the former, and Dan Sellman and Sam Ashcroft in the longer distance. This all bodes extremely well for the Varsity cross country match in a few weeks time.

Cambridge showed time and again that they were the exceptional team, and Oxford failed to even put up any real fight. The CUAC captains Sam Dobin and Kate Laidlow should be congratulated for their efforts in leading their young teams to success in their debut match in light blue vests. It already seems that the year ahead is boasting an exciting future for Cambridge athletics.

The annual inter-college Cuppers competition was hosted over just one day this year, and this only seemed to increase numbers and interest in the event.  There were some great performances from old and new athletes alike.  Kings’ Men and Catz Women took home the Cuppers titles.

This was the last chance for those new to athletics in Cambridge to prove they have what it takes to take on the Dark Side in the first of three clashes in the 2009/10 season.  Those lucky enough to be selected will hear in due course and hopefully this great opportunity to sample a little bit of Varsity Magic will only enourage those involved to train harder and get keener for the year ahead, culminating in the big one in May.

Full results of the Cuppers competiton will appear in due course.