Oxford fail to turn round Varsity

The Oxford cross-country cyclists have had little success in their Varsity race in recent years, but had good reason to hope for a win in Sunday’s event. They were very familiar with the race-venue, Marcie Reinhart seemed very likely to win the women’s race again, and Richard Callow had a good chance in the men’s competition. On the other hand, the Cambridge riders had been riding extremely well in preceding races, including the BUSA cyclo-cross competition. Sunday was a cool and clear day – perfect cycling weather – and since there has been little rain over the past few weeks, the course was unusually free from mud given the time of year. The race was over a 7.3km course; the women raced three laps while the men also rode a fourth. All the participants were delighted by the imaginative, high-speed route, characterised by exciting narrow and twisty paths through dense wood. A particular highlight was the notorious ‘corkscrew’, a tricky section in which the course snakes back and forth across a steep-sided eight foot ditch. Marcie Reinhart came second in the women’s race, just three minutes behind the winner, Cambridge captain Rachel Fenton. Oxford’s Kate Harris finished third, three seconds after Marcie. Richard Callow came second in the men’s race despite twice going over his handlebars, finishing two and a half minutes after Cambridge’s Tom Morris. A special mention is due to Nils Gustafsson, who lost his saddle in a crash in the middle of the first lap, but still managed to complete two and half more laps.by Donald Thomson and William Walton