The annual ‘Turl Street Dash’ took place last Friday without any serious incidents.
The Turl Street Dash, a bicycle race organised by students at Exeter and Jesus colleges and traditionally preceded by heavy drinking, has characterised the centuries-old rivalry between the two colleges flanking Turl Street.
The event has also proved contentious between students and administrators at both Jesus and Exeter in recent years. In 2010, both colleges cancelled the dash in reaction to student injuries and alleged violent confrontation between colleges in the 2009 race.
Frances Cairncross, Rector of Exeter College, commented on Monday: “The police and University Security were present as well as the Junior Deans of Exeter and Jesus Colleges.”
Cairncross offered no further comment when asked if Exeter plans to discontinue this tradition in the future.
Alice Nutting, a first-year English student from Exeter, stated, “It was strangely heartwarming to see an unruly rabble of drunk Jesus students shouting obscenities on Turl Street from the safety of our warm and comfortable rooms, whilst men in tutus lurched past on bicycles. Being the better college has perk; you couldn’t have asked for a more entertaining evening.
“The main problem was that none of us were actually allowed out of college until it had died down, and the whole thing was a bit of an anticlimax. A few people threw water from the windows, which resulted in a bin having to be retrieved from Brasenose Lane by a sheepishlooking fresher.”
Members of Jesus College declined to comment.
