Running Rhodes of success
Queens and Trinity have dominated college athletics for the past few years, but on Sunday it was the turn of the newly-formed Rhodes Scholars team to take away the Chevasse trophy and with it the Cuppers title. The aim of having a Cuppers event on the track at this time of year, as former OUAC president Laurence Chandy said, is to 'try to swipe Freshers from rowing'. And it appears to have done its job with scores of freshers competing in the event, many hoping to win selection for the Freshers Varsity Match competition against Cambridge to be held at Iffley Road a week on Saturday.
The weather conditions were not terribly conducive to quick times on the track, but some athletes made no worry of the adverse wind and particular nip in the air to record some extremely good races.
In the men's track competition, Rhodie fresher Michael Lokale blitzed his opposition in a breathtaking 400m performance, taking it out in 51.6 seconds. John Hutchins of Trinity also showed everyone that cross-country boys can also run quick, doing the 800m and 1500m double. The 3000m was won by Rhodes Scholar Tom Douglas by a satisfying margin of over 40 seconds. Christchurch's Toleme Ezekiel was also impressive in the 100m in 11.7, as were Richard Sear (Green) in the110m hurdles and Simon Baptist of New College in the 400m hurdles.
In the women's track events, Queens' Sarah Lane proved dominant in the sprints, doing the double for the 100 and 200 metres distances, whilst Mansfield fresher Liz Braithwaite put in a noteworthy performance with a 66.4 400m effort. Annie Bowden impressed in the longer distances, following up Corpus' Natalie Coleman in a good 800m race and leading Laura Shackleton from New College to the 1500m. The tables were turned in the 3000m however, with Laura leading Annie home in a respectable time of 11.19.
The highlight of the field events was the men's long jump, which was very tightly contested with only three centimetres separating the first three athletes - in the end Mark Booker and Sean Buckeridge were made to share the spoils for first. Adam Euston of Rhodes won the triple jump by a clear metre, and Nick Radford took time out from his usual 400 metres escapades to reveal his polymathic talents by winning the high jump and following Adrian Cunliffe in the pole vault scores. Dave Harding of Hertford dominated the throws, narrowly missing out in the discus to Merton's Chris Clarke before taking the victor's laurels in both the javelin and the shot put.
In the women's field events, Tamara Lim used her basic sprinting speed to good effect in winning the long jump, and St Hildas' Blues high jumper Sarah Morris was victorious in the triple jump - Sarah's usual event was won by Danielle Fidge of Teddy Hall.
Lauren Winch put in a good performance to win in the discus, whilst yet another Rhodes Scholar, Alexis Blane, mirrored Dave Harding in winning both the javelin and the shot put.
As the respective athletics captains Fraser Thompson and Ailsa Wallace looked on, they can only have been impressed with the performances of all involved and the strength in depth on display.
Sunday's meeting has provided Thompson and Wallace with lots of reason to go into Freshers' Cuppers with plenty of confidence - the first opportunity of the sporting calendar to do what Oxford sportsmen and women do best: Shoe the Tabs.
23rd Oct 2003