The Modern Pentathlon Varsity Match 2015 was held over Easter weekend in the idyllic location of Bradfield College, Reading. The full team consists of 6 athletes completing a full Pentathlon (fence, swim, ride, shoot, run), whilst the Reserves team of three complete a Modern Triathlon (swim, shoot, run).

The Cambridge Ladies began their match in the fencing phase. The fence was an incredibly tense start to the match, as the Oxford opposition were strong, and the lead was yo-yoing back and forth. By the end, Oxford had drawn out a small lead, but Cambridge stalwart and finalist Henny Dillon (St Catharine’s) individually won the event, with a total of 17/22 hits, and Ladies’ Captain Alice Watson (Fitzwilliam) in third with 14 hits.

In the swimming phase, the Cambridge Ladies had points to regain, and regain them they did. There were a plethora of Personal Bests and Henny continued her 5 year supremacy in the swim – winning the 200m event in a time of 2 minutes 10 seconds – though not quite equalling her own record. Novice Jenni Scurr (Newnham) recorded a fantastic PB with a time of 2.51, with fellow Novice Ginny Fellows (Sidney Sussex) also beating her PB by over 10 seconds. Hannah Clifford (Girton) and Alice also achieved PBs in their swims. Overall, the Cambridge swim was exceedingly strong, beating the opposition by 432 points, taking them into the lead overnight by a margin of 76 points.

Modern Pentathlon has often been described as a ‘game of luck’ and this was never truer than in the riding phase for the rather unlucky Cambridge Ladies. A tricky course had been set out in the small arena, and by the end of the day, nobody from either the Ladies or Gentlemen’s competition managed that elusive clear round within the time. Girtonian Hannah Clifford’s riding skills were tested to the max by the enormous, lumbering horse she drew, but she was able to get around with only a few knockdowns and time penalties. Vice-President Ali Simon (Fitzwilliam) drew a feisty little horse with a reluctance to jump either the planks or the treble when the horses were being demonstrated, but Ali rode determinedly to end up 2nd in this phase, recording the fastest time of the day. Henny, Ginny and Jenni were all a little unlucky in their draw with horses not entirely suited, and Captain Alice was even unluckier when her horse caught a pole between its front legs, crashing through a fence and depositing Alice on the floor. A quick check by a GP at the event lead to Alice being whisked off to hospital for x-rays. It was later confirmed that she had broken her wrist, thus meaning that she couldn’t complete the competition and would spend the next few days in the Oxford hospital (oh the irony). For times like these, the First Reserve steps up to complete the competition in place of the injured party, and thus first-timer Ellie Stirk (Newnham) got the call-up for the combined event.

The combined event consists of shooting 5 knockdown targets in a time of 70 seconds (or less) 3 times, with each shoot followed by a 1k run. Ali won the shooting phase, breaking her own record for the third time in a row, this time shooting down the 15 targets in a time of 1.54 with a near 100% hit record. The Cambridge Ladies put up a hard fight in the combined, with Hannah giving the 2014 and 2015 champion, Katie Hickson, a run for her money, coming in second in a fantastic time of 14.30. Ginny and Jenni also recorded excellent PBs for this phase. Ellie coped admirably with the pressure of competing in the Blues heat instead of the Reserves, and kept her cool for a great shoot. Fantastic shoots all round meant that Cambridge won the shooting phase by 868 points. Nevertheless, Oxford had a fantastic run, winning the combined and extended the lead they had gained following the ride.

Overall the title went to the Oxford Ladies by a narrow margin, but individually Henny, Ali and Hannah all achieved half blue scores. Ali placed 3rd individually and top for Cambridge, and won the Ladies’ Skills Trophy for the fence, ride and shoot. Henny retained her trophies from the fence and the swim, and Ali for the shoot.

In the reserves competition, Ellie was joined by Bex Fox (Downing) and Alexandra Wiseman (Trinity); all performed exceptionally well. Alex put her Blues swimming training to good use and won the reserves swim competition by miles, in a time of 2 minutes 15 seconds, while Ellie put in a fantastic PB of 6 seconds. Bex had a fantastic shoot in the combined, to put in a great PB and though Ellie had double the pressure in the combined event (as her scores counted for both the reserves competition and the Blues to replace injured Captain Alice) she kept her nerve well. Overall, the team finished runners up to a very strong Oxford reserves team – with strong triathlon roots!