Lent has drawn to a close, and it’s safe to say it has been an exciting term for all things sport at Cambridge, capped off in fitting style by the Boat Race. From korfball and kickboxing to hockey and lacrosse, light and dark blue faced off across a plethora of fixtures last term, and it now feels a fitting time to take stock of some standout Varsity moments across the sports.

In the major university sports, Cambridge came out with a mixed bag of results. Starting with netball, the light blues headed to Oxford as the underdogs, having suffered two previous league defeats earlier in the season against their dark blue counterparts. While producing a spirited display, the Blues fell to a 52-35 defeat. Strong performances from the Wrens (4th team) and Swallows (3rd team), defeated their Varsity foes, meaning there was still plenty to celebrate over.

Moving from Iffley Road over to the StoneX, in the Varsity Matches Cambridge endured two tough defeats from strong Oxford rugby outfits. On the women’s side, it was a day to forget as they suffered a 52-8 loss. A poor performance up-front and at set-pieces were the decisive factors in a narrower 37-25 scoreline in the men’s match.

More varied results came on the football pitch as the women in light blue fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat at home at Grange Road. However, Cambridge’s men took home the spoils to win their Varsity football match for the second year running thanks to brilliant performances by Tom Craddock and Deniz Ozer.

“Under torrential conditions, Cambridge battled to a 0-0 draw at full-time, before being edged out by Oxford 4-3”

In hockey, the light Blues clean swept the 4XI games, with the Squanderers (3XI) and the Wanderers (2XI) picking up exhilarating wins. In the premier matches of the year, Cambridge suffered two close losses, a 3-2 defeat for the men’s Blues, and shootout drama in the women’s game. Under torrential conditions, Cambridge battled to a 0-0 draw at full-time, before being edged out by Oxford 4-3, who claimed this year’s bragging rights. Credit must be given to both sides as the standing rain made the contest tricky for all parties.

Oxford’s lacrosse Blues dealt Cambridge two defeats in the men’s and women’s games. Not all was lost though as the day ended an overall draw, after Cambridge snatched victories in both mixed lacrosse games and the men’s 2s to retain the Varsity trophy.

In the most anticipated fixture of the year, the Boat Race did not fail to disappoint. Taking place along the Thames, the race started in Putney before finishing up in Mortlake, all in front of throngs of fans. In recent years, Cambridge have been the dominant side, but Oxford came into 2026 ready to spoil the light blue party. In a way, you could argue the dark blues did just that. While Cambridge cleaned swept every other race, including the lightweights and veterans races, Oxford won the women’s race to end an eight-year winning streak for the light blues. Despite Oxford providing stiff competition on the day in the men’s race, Cambridge proved too strong as they edged out their counterparts.

Away from the headlines, there was plenty of other interest and action across the other range of sports offered at Oxbridge. Starting with korfball, Oxford edged out Cambridge 19-20 in an extremely tight encounter, while the 2nd team came away with a dominant 15-5 victory. Cambridge dominated all the clay pigeon shooting fixtures, winning the four contests played, and went four for five in the basketball, with only the women’s Blues coming up short.

“Ending the term with a fitting champagne moment”

The Varsity combat sport fixtures were also hotly anticipated this year. Most notably, Cambridge dominated amateur boxing in a 7-3 aggregate win, and also snatched an overall win in karate. Defeats in jiu-jitsu and kickboxing however meant things were fairly evenly poised across the different combat disciplines in this year’s fixtures.

Other particular highlights of this term’s Varsity encounters were Cambridge clinching both the men’s and women’s powerlifting fixtures, and the light blues leaving with a 5-2 win in competition dance down at Leys School theatre, just past the University engineering department.

Overall, Varsity results varied across the board, as is to be expected with the sheer number of sports being played. The overall highlight would have to be the Men’s Varsity Football match, played on the last day of Lent, and ending the term with a fitting champagne moment.

With plenty of fixtures to come in Easter term, it isn’t all over on the sporting front in Cambridge. Tennis, cricket and athletics will definitely be the ones to look out for. Don’t be afraid to go down and support the light blues in these clashes – it’ll certainly be better than all the revision stress!