Refreshed after its Christmas layoff, university sport is set to return in force for Lent, traditionally the biggest and busiest of the terms for Cambridge sportspeople.
The highest-profile event associated with Lent actually takes place after the end of term. All eyes will be on the Thames on 6th April, as Cambridge and the Other Place meet once more for the men’s Boat Race. Oxford are the title holders, but this has alternated for the past four years; Cambridge’s men certainly won’t be assuming it’s their turn, however. Equally hotly contested will be the women’s boat race, taking place slightly earlier on 30th March at Henley-on-Thames.

The rowers are not the only squad facing their Varsity test this term. The women’s rugby union match (at Oxford on 8th March) will see Cambridge try to overturn two years of Dark Blue dominance. The female footballers face Oxford on the same date, while the men have provisionally set their match for 6th April. The Varsity hockey games are on 9th March, at London’s Southgate Hockey Centre.

Cambridge’s men and women are each the holders of their respective titles.
Many other Varsity contests are packed into the two weekends of the (officially titled) Jaguar Land Rover Varsity Games. This year’s games take place in Oxford, offering intriguing swap possibilities for committed spectators as well as participants.

The key weekends are 28th February to 2nd March (events include basketball, lacrosse, table tennis and volleyball) and 7th to 9th March (seemingly the larger event, offering badminton, boxing, ice hockey, karate, kendo, taekwondo and trampolining, as well as dodgeball and Ultimate Frisbee).

Aside from the rivalry with the Dark Blues, there are some other key fixtures to look out for. The men’s rugby union XV were defeated in December’s Varsity match, but have fixtures against the Army (12th February), Royal Air Force (19th February) and Navy (5th March) to look forward to. 

Meanwhile the popular “Town v Gown” event on 6th February will pitch student boxers against representatives of local clubs. The final card has yet to be drawn up, but Amateur Boxing Club president Rob Liu anticipates 10-12 hotly contested bouts. Something of a spectator sport sensation in recent years, Town v Gown takes place in the Guildhall, with cheap drinks on offer to help you make a night of it. Tickets are available through the club and (from 13th January) through Ryder & Amies.
For many university teams, Lent is the term where league competitions draw to a close, with attention turning to summer sports (not to mention exams) as we reach the Easter holidays.

BUCS leagues in sports as diverse as volleyball, football, table tennis, netball, women’s rugby union and rugby league all reach their climax in February and March. Many of the Light Blues have much to play for. As we went to press, the women’s rugby union team topped Midlands 1A, well placed for promotion with three matches to play; meanwhile the men’s football 1st team are toiling at the foot of Premier South, albeit with the advantage of two games in hand. The women’s table tennis first team are well-placed to qualify for the BUCS national championship (held in late March) while the netballers chase promotion from Midlands 2B.

There are also a number of one-off student championships in Lent, of which the biggest is perhaps the BUCS Indoor Athletics Championships, in Sheffield from 21st to 23rd February. Beth Swords of the Athletic Club told us that Cambridge expect to field a strong contingent. The club are optimistic after taking four medals in last summer’s BUCS Outdoors. Other championships include volleyball (on 8th and 9th February at the University of East Anglia) and archery (the BUCS indoors at Telford on 1st March).

No sporting preview of Lent would be complete without mention of Cuppers. In many ways the definition of participatory sport at Cambridge, Cuppers tournaments offer less-than-elite (and no doubt some elite) college sportspeople their chance at glory. Often contested with a vigour that rivals the Varsity matches, and host to all kinds of arcane but heartfelt rivalries, Cuppers contests feature teams from every college, in an astonishing variety of sports.

Many of these sports also have thriving leagues, with larger (or simply more enthusiastic) colleges often fielding three teams or more.