The first college silverware of the new year will be handed out in under a fortnight. The inter-collegiate Athletics Cup, traditionally the first college cup to be awarded in the Cambridge sporting calendar, will be contested at Wilberforce Road on Sunday 17th October. This is a chance for the traditionally less impressive Colleges to shine. While unfortunately this paper will repeatedly emphasise the Johnian dominance of the rugby field, Trinity’s, Jesus’ and Caius’ superiority on the river and Jesus’ and Caius’ mastery over bat and ball, college athletics has had a history of throwing up lesser Colleges and bringing perennially weak outfits onto the sporting scene. Last year’s men’s competition involved strong performances from Selwyn, Peterhouse and Clare who are often ignored when it comes to the back pages of the university newspapers, while Peterhouse and Selwyn also appeared in the women’s top five. And it can seldom be said that King’s are favourites for any type of sporting competition.

Yet it was King’s who won last year’s men’s competiton with St Catharine’s winning the female competition and both Colleges will be confident of retaining their crowns. Josh Mouland, last year’s King’s captain, will no doubt be looking to repeat his superb performance in the decathlon and will be anticipating a revival of his competitive rivalry with Selwyn’s Ed Moyse. Moyse put in an excellent shift last year, coming first in the discus and 100m and second in the long jump, 110m hurdles and shot put. His 11.7 seconds in the 100m was comfortably the quickest effort in the field. Having performed so strongly last year the St Catharine’s team only need to shake off the competition from their closest rivals Jesus to retain their place as the best athletics college in the women’s competition. Jesus, however, remain strong. Last year’s Blues captain Kate Laidlow will be looking to compete again in the 100m race that she won last year with an excellent time of 13.5 seconds, and will be striving to inspire impressive Jesuans to victory.

This is an excellent opportunity for budding athletes to impress the Blues captains before the Freshers’ Varsity later this term. Last year’s competition threw up talented freshers such as Amanda Smolinksy who impressed in the pole vault and the high jump, and Ismail Akram, who won the triple jump with an impressive 12.68 metres. The college Cuppers competition has proven in recent years to be a superb testing ground for new Cambridge talent. Its position early in the year introduces rookies to the sports and gives vital competitive experience before the Fresher’s Varsity match in November. Last season’s results verify this: Cambridge dominated The Old Enemy, winning the men’s meet 114 to 76 and the women’s 110 to 75.
The captains will be hopeful that this year’s competition is of as high a standard as last year’s. If the intake of this year is as good, Cambridge could be looking at another year of Varsity domination.