THE VARSITY MATCH, 2008
Helen Rollins and James Chettle
The Hare & Hounds took to Wimbledon Common for the 118th Men’s and 39th Women’s Varsity Cross–Country Races fully aware of the scale of the task ahead. Oxford’s dominance of the IInds–IVths Varsity Races the week before had given a good indication of the strength of their squad. It would prove to be a difficult day for the Light Blues.
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Both sides were forced into a change before the race; Cambridge’s Charlotte Roach was unable to overcome a long term foot injury and was replaced by Emma Figures while in the men’s race Oxford’s Andy Heyes was forced to withdraw to be replaced by Alan Chetwynd.
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The Cambridge coach beat Oxford’s in arriving at Wimbledon, which unfortunately did not prove to be an omen of things to come. Unfortunately, the suited photographs were forced to proceed without Tim Pattison, whose car had been rather incompetently blocked in by a selfish Peugeot driver. Upon his arrival an hour before the men’s race, in no way did the mild–mannered Macclesfield man incite vandalism towards the aforementioned Peugeot.
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The day’s racing began with the supporters’ race, run over the same course that the women would take on. Notable among the participants was Olympic silver medallist and former Harey Emma Pooley, whom Jamie Brunning declared himself particularly pleased to have beaten following the race. However he failed to follow the advice of one unnamed old boy, who had, for rather surreptitious reasons, advised him to stay a couple of metres behind her all the way to the finish. The new and unpopular scoring system meant only ‘old gits’ rather than all supporters were eligible to score, meaning the rest of us were really just getting wet and muddy for no conceivable reason. In the biggest disappointment of the day thus far, the womble who had graced the start line in 2007 had not returned for the 2008 race. Oxford’s Hennessy took the title of the fastest old git followed by Cambridge legends Bristow and Armstrong. Mytton, Hewitt, Mathie and Richardson completed Cambridge’s scoring six as the Light Blues earned a 39–39 draw following a (rather extended) recount.
Finally, the real action got underway with the Women’s Varsity Race. With a number of international runners on both sides, the result promised to be close.
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After a steady start, the field was tightly packed through the first, flat mile. At the water jump, a lead pack of Cambridge undergraduates Polly Keen, Naomi Taschimowitz and Helen Rollins broke away with Oxford athletes Cathy Ansell and Michelle Sikes. Rollins and Sikes pushed on with two miles to go, exchanging the lead up the steep, muddy hills. The Light Blue athlete emerged from the woodland ahead with only the 300 metre flat home straight to go. Despite a valiant effort from the Cambridge runner, Sikes reached the finish line first, using her track speed to win by just three seconds. The American athlete added the Varsity crown to her American collegiate title and US championship bronze medal.
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Top Cambridge performances also came from Trinity fresher Taschimowitz (4th), earning a Full Blue in her first Varsity match, and talented fell runner Anna Anderson who held off tough Oxford competitors to finish 8th, having broken her arm just a month before. Cambridge captain Keen finished strongly in 10th place with Emma Figures and Lauren Barklie in 11th and 12th.
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Although Oxford won the team title with 24 points to Cambridge's 15, this was an excellent performance by the Light Blue side. With the BUCS championships in February, the team will be looking to place well. Congratulations go to the Oxford team and to Michelle Sikes for her victory.
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Full Blues were awarded to Helen Rollins and Naomi Taschimowitz, with Half Blues awarded to Anna Anderson, Polly Keen, Emma Figures and Lauren Barklie.
Victory in the Women’s Blues had given Oxford an insurmountable 4–2 lead in the 2008 Varsity Matches with the oldest race of them all yet to come. However, the stakes remained as high as ever, with Cambridge aiming for a third win in a row and Oxford attempting to tie the overall series at 59 wins apiece.
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Cambridge captain Kelly led the field through the waterjump without any of the drama of last year’s race. By the time the runners passed the golf course for the first time a pack consisting of Kelly and Oxford’s Bruce, Kimpton and Franzese had emerged at the front. As the gap grew to the rest of the field, it became increasingly evident that Cambridge’s fading chance of victory was reliant both on a Kelly win and on Light Blue runners packing out positions five to eight. Cambridge hopes were briefly revived when Kimpton was forced to fall back from the lead group and Light Blues Pattison, Bannon and Dobin moved to the front of the main pack. However, in a decisive moment with less than two miles to go Bruce and Franzese moved past Kelly. Franzese then took the lead from his teammate through the butts and led him home to win the race in 38.33, the fastest winning time in three years. Kelly’s time of 38.56 had been bettered only once since 2005, yet he found himself beaten by two brilliant performances on the day.
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With Oxford taking 4th (Kimpton), 5th (Osborne) and 6th (Mercer), the result was all over bar the counting. However, fierce battles were still raging behind. Cambridge’s Pattison and Bannon emerged from the woods neck and neck with Oxford’s Chetwynd in a battle for seventh, eighth and ninth places. Bannon and Chetwynd made the first surge, ostensibly forcing Pattison to settle for ninth. In a brilliant tactical move Bannon then dummied a kick before falling back, to which the Oxford man responded and opened up a five metre gap. Bannon kicked again and surged clear, even coming within a second of catching Mercer. Then Pattison, seemingly left for dead by the pair, found an explosive burst of pace in the last 200 metres and he too moved past Chetwynd just before the finish. Strong performances were also put in by Dobin (10th) and Mackay (13th) while Brown (14th) and Clark (16th) can consider themselves unlucky to have been affected by illness on the day.
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Congratulations go to Oxford for an exceptionally strong team performance and to Richard Franzese in particular for a stunning race. Thanks also to Thames H&H for putting on such a well organised event and overcoming the efforts of the idiotic hoodlums who tried to misdirect the runners.
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In what seems to be a recurring theme this year, the Cambridge times this year would have taken victory against the Oxford team of 2007; Oxford’s large margin of victory was clearly a reflection of the strength of their team rather than an indication of weakness in the Cambridge performance. The inexperienced Cambridge team, with five Varsity Match rookies, will undoubtedly benefit from this experience and return stronger next year, when the overall lead in the series will be up for grabs.
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Full Blues were awarded to James Kelly, Chris Bannon and Tim Pattison, while Half Blues were awarded to Sam Dobin, Matt Grant, Will Mackay, Robin Brown and Matt Clark.
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