Fresh Faces, Same Story

This year’s intake of freshers landed the first meaningful blow against The Other Place in the annual Freshers’ Athletics Varsity match. They may have just arrived at Cambridge but they already know the drill. This was the 10th straight victory for Cambridge against Oxford.

Laying down a marker so early on will provide a encourging base for the rest of year, as CUAC showed they will have a team full of promise, as well as their established stars. The fresher athletes showed their strength, pulling out some fantastic performances out of season and in the middle of week 5.

The women’s competition was won comfortably – 105 to Oxfords 84 – whilst the men’s match kept everyone on their toes. Cambridge fought hard to take the trophy with 96 points to Oxford’s 94. Athlete of the match was awarded to Onakeno Mario-Ghae of Girton for his exceptional performances in the Long Jump and High Jump. The latter was won with a jump of 1m 93cm, just 2cm short of Blues standard.

Onakeno Mario-Ghae was a star performer on the day

Each event features two competitors from each university. Cambridge excelled in the jumping events, with a Cambridge one-two for both the men’s and women’s long jump, triple jump and high jump events.

The Cambridge men were also particularly strong in the middle distance track events: Lloyd Hilton of Jesus won both the 400m and the 800m, Roger Poolman took victory over 1,500m, and fellow Queens’ athlete Will Ryle-Hodges came first in the 3,000m. Rebecca McLean and Joy Lisney took a Cambridge one-two in the 400m whilst Emily Dudgeon and Rebecca Moore secured another one-two in the 3,000m. The women’s team won both their relay events to round up a superb day of events.

Freshers revel in their early success against The Other Place

The match was full of strong performances that the Cambridge athletes can be proud of. This was an encouraging result for CUAC and the team look set to retain their winning streak in the main Varsity Match on May 19th with the help of this year’s crop of fresh talent.

Photos courtesy of Bilen Ahmet