On 08/05 and in the glorious sunshine, Cambridge University Athletics Club (CUAC) took on Oxford in the athletics Varsity match. The Men’s and Women’s Blues teams both retained the cup. Furthermore, there were strong performances from the Men’s and Women’s Second Teams who, despite falling short, have plenty of positives to take from the day.

In the Women’s section, the Women’s Second Team narrowly lost and the Women’s Blues retained the cup but were held to a controversial draw. Cambridge challenged the result of the 4x400m race, having run a phenomenal time of 3:57.02 — the fourth fastest time in the UK this year. Had this challenge been successful, there would have been an outright victory for the Women’s Blues, but it, unfortunately, wasn’t to be the case.

There were some outstanding individual performances, with Blues match records being set. Louise Shanahan ran 55.88 seconds in the 400m and was awarded a Blue for this. Johanna Schoenecker threw the javelin 43.48m. Phoebe Barker ran the 5000m in 16:34.69. Nancy Scott should also be noted for her impressive 2nd place finish in the 5000m. Furthermore, Mary Adeniji dominated in the long jump with 5.93m. This performance extended Adeniji’s winning streak in this event. Blues were also given to Maia Hardman for performance in the 300m and Leonie Brunning in the High Jump.

Despite the Women’s Second Team falling short overall, there were also some stellar individual performances. In particular, Ellie O’Keefe — who won the 400m in a time of 59.80s, which would have placed her 2nd in the Blues race. Also, Hetta Friend who earned a Half-Blue after posting a PB and achieving 2nd place in the shot put.

On the Men’s side, the Blues won with an overall score of 121-91 points. Special mention must go to Samuel Clarke, the outgoing President of CUAC. He delivered a superb performance, winning five events on the day: 4x100m, 4x400m, 400m hurdles, 110m hurdles and 200m hurdles. In the 4x100m, he closed a 10m gap in the last leg to snatch victory by 0.01s.

Men’s Captain Angus Harrington similarly impressed, winning the 800m (1:53.15), 400m (49.28) and 4x400m. Adam Dray also impressed in the 4.x400m, and fellow 4x400m runner Zute Ogbedeh won the 100m in 11.03 and came second in the 200m.

There were numerous victories for other Blues athletes. Daniel Roffey won the pole vault with a score of 3.60m. Georgios Zaphiris won the horizontal jump double, consisting of long jump and triple jump, with leaps of 6.94m and 14.34m respectively. He was awarded a Blue for this feat. Cambridge came 1st and 2nd in the hammer throw, with thanks to Robin Croft and Marley Young. Young also won the discus (46.44m) and shot put (14.4m). And, Joe Massingham of Pembroke won the 5000m by a cool 10s with a time of (14:43.94).

Cambridge also dominated in the “Mile”, with Girton Medics Harry Cox and Jeremy Dempsey claiming 1st and 2nd place. After a slow start, Cox powered through the last 800m in a time of 1:56 to claim victory at Iffley Road Athletics Track, the spiritual home of the “Mile” where Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four minute time. Blues were also awarded to Terry Fawden for the 3000m and Michael Miller for the Javelin throw.

All in all, CUAC should be proud of their performance. We very much look forward to hearing about the future successes of both individual athletes and the various teams.