Trinity term isn’t host to many of the marquee Varsity matches, at least not until towards the end when cricket takes the stage, but this can give lesser-known sports the chance to flourish.
On Sunday 13th May Oxford Triathlon Club competed at their annual Varsity match, again held at Grendon Triathlon in the heart of Northampton. Triathlon is one of the fastest growing sports at the moment, and one on the whole dominated by British athletes. This weekend saw Britain complete the double in the World Triathlon Series race in San Diego with Helen Jenkins and Jonny Brownlee winning the men and women’s races respectively. The omens are good for the Olympics!
Back at Grendon the Varsity wave set off at 9:00am, with around 50 Oxbridge triathletes churning up the water of Grendon lake. Open-water swims can be fairly brutal, and this was no exception, with a large bunch of triathletes fighting to occupy a small stretch of excruciatingly cold water, bursting their lungs to complete the 750m swim as quickly as possible. Cambridge triathlete Alex Young was the first athlete out of the water and onto the 20km bike course. It was a fairly smooth course with a couple of small climbs in it. The race then finished with a 5km run.
Young’s lead proved unshakeable, and the first Oxford man home was Lee Harper (Merton) in 3rd place, leading from the front as always with a quick result of one hour, five minutes and eight seconds, taking the podium in his final race as OUTriC President.
However, the men’s Blues match was won by a dominant Cambridge performance, a result which was gratifyingly reversed in the women’s Blues match as Oxford comfortably beat Cambridge by over fifteen minutes. Sophia Saller (St Catz) came first and Hannah Johnston (Pembroke) second, with Cambridge triathlete Madzia Kowalski rounding out the podium in third place.
In the seconds matches OUTriC demonstrated the depth of its talent, with the men destroying Cambridge by 95 points to 150 points (the lowest score winning), and the women’s second team containing some fantastic individual results, though they won by default as Cambridge failed to field a full team.
After some strong performances at BUCS Sprint Triathlon the previous weekend, four Oxford athletes were looking to satisfy the stringent Blues criteria at Varsity. All four had their efforts rewarded, with Sophia Saller getting a full blue, and Hannah Johnston, James Felce (Oriel) and Iona Richards (St Catz) taking home half-blues.
It was a fine climax to the triathlon club’s season, winning Varsity 3:1. Whilst Varsity and BUCS Sprint triathlons are the main focus of the club, many of its members race longer distances. OUTriC will be racing at the standard distance National Championships triathlon in June in Shropshire, which is made up of a 1.5km swim, 40km bike and then 10km run. A number of athletes are also preparing to compete at the infamous Ironman distance, which comprises a 3.8km swim, 180km bike, followed by a full marathon.
The seconds’ match demonstrated the breadth of talent in the club, with the majority of our triathletes having started the sport from scratch when they started Oxford, and the club can look forward to another successful year under its new President Hannah Johnston.
