The end of Michaelmas term brings a number of certainties: deadlines start to pile in, Elliot Heath begs everyone to come to the Christmas dinner, and the varsity cross-country matches against Oxford.
II-IV races #
First were the II-IVs matches on Sunday 30th November hosted by us at a gloriously sunny Priory Park in St Neots.
The day started with the men’s IIs and IIIs races. We knew the competition was going to be stiff with Oxford fielding two experienced teams, and sadly their old age got the better of us on the day. However, we had some brilliant individual performances with Nasos finishing 2nd and Connor finishing 9th in their first varsity appearances in the IIs race, as well as Lawrie and Maxime being first Hareys home in the IIIs race to come 7th and 8th respectively.
Our fortunes were better in the women’s selected races, with the scores ending tied at 39-39 for the IIs (which we sadly lost on countback) and a resounding victory for Cambridge in the first selected women’s IIIs race. These solid team results were backed up by some outstanding individual performances, with Maia leading the Cambridge IIs home in 2nd followed by Elin, Lilian and Annabelle packing well to finish 4th-6th respectively. In the women’s IIIs, Sara took the victory by over 30 seconds ahead of Bella then Becca to secure a Cambridge 1-2-3.
Last but not least were the mob (IVs) matches, which we were confident of a huge Cambridge turn-out thanks to Michael’s persistent recruitment strategy on the Harey WhatsApp group. First up were the men, spearheaded by our ex-pro footballer Elliot Johnston who held off a resurgent Oxford runner in the final straight to take the individual honours for Cambridge. Though Oxford may have packed 7 in the top 10, our sizeable mob meant that we took the team victory too. Nice.
The day’s racing was rounded off with the first ever women’s IVs race. There were many brilliant runs with 8 Cambridge in the top 10 including Annabelle and Lucy climbing onto the podium with 2nd and 3rd respectively. The sheer number of light blue vests piling in behind resulted in us delivering a crushing victory over Oxford’s pathetic mob of a whole 10 people. Huge day for the sport.
Well done to all who raced and a special mention to our mob match captains Tilly and Michael who take credit for our excellent mob turn-outs. Full results of the II-IVs races can be found here.
Blues’ races #
6 short days later it was the Blues’ turn to take on Oxford over the neutral territory of Wimbledon Common in London.
The drama started before we’d even got on the coach with the late withdrawal of Terry due to sickness. Nasos, fortunately remembering to bring his spikes, was now in. After a scenic 2 hr coach ride later (it wasn’t), and Rob arriving in time for team photos (he wasn’t), it was time for racing to begin.
First up were the old gits, which was won by 2024 alumnus Pete Molloy, who happens to be younger than the majority of Oxford’s men’s blues team. Ironic.
Next, swapping the race schedule of previous years to allow the women to race last, were the men’s blues. With the loss of Terry, we knew it was going to be a tall order to overturn last year’s defeat. Cameron, Ewan, and Owen spearheaded our efforts, giving the top Oxford boys a run for their money and packed well to secure 4th-6th places. Next were Dan then Max who battled with the remaining Oxford scorers to finish in 8th and 10th. Our scoring six was closed by Nasos shortly followed by Rob and Tim, the three placing 14th-16th respectively. There were some gutsy runs from the light blues out there, with particularly outstanding races from Cameron and Dan, but sadly Oxford took a 33-47 victory.
The final race of the day was the women’s blues to celebrate the 50th anniversary of women’s varsity cross-country. It was looking close on paper with Oxford’s team weakened due to the loss of Becky Flaherty to eurocross selection. The light blues were led out by Aimi, who battled well with the first Oxford runner and was rewarded with a 2nd place finish. Next were Eva then Sophie who ran brilliantly to place 6th and 8th. Not far behind were Stella, Rosie, and Tamsin who packed well to finish 9th-11th and all finish ahead of Oxford’s final scorer. Our last Harey home was Ella who ran well to finish 13th, her best result in the blues’ race. Unfortunately Beth twisted her ankle quite badly in the ravine and was unable to continue. The girls gave it their all on the common, but Oxford once again were the victors by a margin of 32-46.
Full results of the blues’ races can be found here.
Many thanks to the CUH&H committee for all the hard work towards this year’s Varsity campaign; to Alan Turnbull for his invaluable help with the II-IVs matches at St Neots; to Thames H&H for hosting the blues’ races; and to our coaches Phil, Niamh, and John for their advice and guidance.
Max Walk