Tabs run ragged
Oxford gained glorious revenge for last year's defeat with a double victory in the Varsity cross-country match, which took place on Wimbledon Common on the 5th December.
The result followed a 3-3 draw in the 2nd - 5th teams match the week before, securing overall bragging rights across the full cross country squads, as well as evening up the historical match score at 57 apiece.
An Oxford victory for Nick Talbot in the Old Boys' race set the tone for the day, and as the match began in earnest, the Oxford women soon ensured that their race was barely a contest.
A trio of Courtney Birch, Emily Crowley and Alice Beverly, working together to perfection, attacked up a hill and broke away from the rest of the field.
Their lead was never really threatened and Beverly, Birch and Crowley secured an Oxford 1-2-3 respectively, finishing the four-mile course within ten seconds of each other in 24 minutes.
Close on their heels was Oxford's Emily Ferenczi, who saw off Cambridge's Claire Willer to snatch fourth.
With the first four finishers on each team to count, the Tabs had been well and truly thrashed, with the Oxford team home before a single Cambridge runner.
Strong runs saw Rachel Deegan (7th) and Kathy Burgoine (9th) also get home before a Cambridge team score could be registered. Final score, Oxford win 10-29.
The Boys race was rather less one sided. Oxford's Fraser Thompson established an early lead, followed by team-mate Jonathan Blackledge, running bravely on a sprained ankle to finish second.
Team captains Ben Moreau of Oxford and Cambridge's Ben Hope were together for much of the 7.2 mile course, with Moreau breaking away with about 400m to go for an eight second victory over his Tab counterpart. Another Oxford 1-2-3.
The complete dominance of the Oxford top runners, however, did not guarantee success as it had in the women's race. With the first 6 runners to count for each team, strength in depth was also tantamount, and an ominous massing of minty-green vests behind the front three meant that Oxford needed to interrupt the Cambridge pack to secure victory.
Tom Douglas did just this, breaking up the Tab ranks in 7th place. Luke Walton and Mark Dewhirst also ran well to score for Oxford in 12th and 13th places.
The mathematicians then took over. Oxford's first six had a combined position total of 38 to Cambridge's 42 - a Dark Blue win by the narrowest of margins.
Many of the cross-country squad will run in the BUSA indoor athletics championships in February.
13th Jan 2005