Cuppers Cross Country
By Owain Bristow
Past seasons have brought snow and extreme cold to the Varsity selection event. This year conditions were mild and, despite the heavy rain, the going was good for the Cambridge runners braving the Wandlebury course.
This year's intake of talented freshers has been particularly impressive and the Women's race promised to be very exciting indeed. It didn't disappoint. Club Captain Claire Day, last year's winner, set the pace from the start but was studiously tracked by New Hall's Polly Keen, 14th in the Southern Championships in January. Keen made her move on the approach to the final hill of the four-mile course to open up a five second margin of victory.
Following the first two, there was some good packing from Cambridge's top women. Charlotte Forbes (Girton), Harriet Owles (Selwyn), Laura Spence (Wolfson) and fresher Lauren Barklie (Magdalene) ran superbly to book their places on the Blues team for the Varsity Match in a fortnight. Particularly encouraging was the fact that the finishing times of the top ten were a significant improvement on previous years.
Trinity easily won the college competition, led home by the Hare and Hounds Club President Joan Lasenby in eighth place, Selwyn was second and Girton was third.
With Paolo Natali and Alistair Brownlee already pre-selected for the Varsity Match, the Men's 6.3 miler was all about who was going to clinch the remaining spots on the Blues team.
A steady start saw Men's Captain and title-holder Will George gradually pull away from the field. Behind him a group of four runners, including established Blues Matt Armstrong (Tit Hall) and Owain Bristow (Churchill), formed the chasing pack. James Kelly (Jesus) was the first to split the group, making a break on the fast down section of the course, and with Bristow getting a gap on the testing uphill section the top three positions were fixed.
George's winning mark of 32.39 was near to the course record and the times of his nearest rivals also suggest that Oxford will be in for an intense match in two weeks' time. Armstrong finished fourth to earn Blues selection for a second year, while Matt Grant (Queens') and Diarmuid O'Seaghdha (Corpus) will both make their Wimbledon debuts after fine runs. Diarmuid in particularly deserves a special mention for making the Blues team, after being on the cusp of selection for the last three years. Well done!
Jesus once again dominated the men's team competition, having both the top two finishers and tremendous strength in depth lower down the field, a product of the hard work and enthusiasm of college rep Chris Morris. Queens' and Wolfson were a distant second and third.
Next Saturday will see a return to battle at Wandlebury as Cambridge and Oxford compete in the 2nd-4th team Varsity races. Judging by the performances at Cuppers, the scene looks set for some closely fought cross-country action.
It was a great day to be out running and it couldn't have happened without the organisational skills of league organisers Ali Connell and James Gill (who both also ran very well in the race itself!), the technical wizardry of Mark Coley and the time and encouragement given by the marshals, finishing judges and others: Karen Freund, Dan and Ellen Leggate, Jenny Leggate (one for the future perhaps!), Simon Rutherford, Tabitha Steel, Clementine Stott, Dr Chris Thorne and Jason Wong.