Swedish Success For Blues
The Dark Blues travelled to the outskirts of Stockholm where their strength and depth saw them complete a clean sweep over Cambridge for the third year running. Conditions were far from ideal following the harsh Scandinavian winter and late spring, leaving competitors to battle against their rivals in an unforgiving landscape, where running was impaired by up to a foot of snow.
The Men’s event took the format of staggered starts, with alternate Oxford and Cambridge runners separated by six minute intervals, each individual aiming to outrun their nearest rival around a 10 kilometre course. The Women’s race followed a slightly shorter route of 8 kilometres. Route choice became a key tactic in the race with many members of the team choosing to play safe and avoid the energy sapping snow by deviating slightly from the most direct route.
This tactic worked well for Oxford, as although this added up to 25% extra distance, fresher legs ensured faster times. The Men’s team, lead by Chris Millard, began strongly with Luke Woodward and Benjamin Grandey running safe races on their debut appearances for the Varsity team. Chris Davidson, Millard and Ian Webb added valuable points for Oxford, taking second, fourth and fifth places respectively.
However, the real virtuoso peformance came from Ed Catmur whose superb race took him to his third straight men’s individual title. The Cambridge team were left standing with the only notable exception being Alan Elder, a veteran of the Varsity Match, who managed to sneak into the top three. The Oxford Women outperformed Cambridge in similar fashion, with Christine Jones and Captain Katherine Asker placing Oxford in contention.
Stunning runs from Anne Osborne and Becky Carlyle made sure the Oxford team was untouchable, but the star was international orienteering champion, fresher Cerys Manning, who put in the run of her life to take the women’s title. The Oxford team were momentarily troubled by the natural ability of the Cambridge fresher Anya Crocker, who ran without error, and threatened to spoil the Oxford party.
“She’ll do well that girl” mentioned Becky Carlyle after the women’s race saw Crocker take third place. Despite the adverse weather conditions, Oxford’s efforts saw them comprehensively win the 34th Varsity Match through great team performance, ensuring that the team prizes remained in the hands of the dark blues. Special thanks go to Eric Roller (Ex-Cambridge) for organising such a successful Varsity Match.
2nd Jun 2005