After months of tough training, hours of effort, aches and pains, and numerous dark cold mornings, V-Day had finally arrived for Oxford University Swimming Club. On Saturday 28th February, OUSC continued their supremacy in the pool, taking the tabs for the fourth year running.
Records were broken, personal bests smashed, and tabs shoed, as Oxford rose to an overall victory, beating Cambridge by an exceptional margin of 110 to 67 points, improving on last year’s success and reach- ing just shy of the historical record-breaking scores of 2013.
Despite a valiant effort from Cambridge, both the men’s and women’s teams won their respective titles. The men dominated from the start, leading Cambridge 26-14 after the first four events, eventually coming through to win 57-33.
Meanwhile, the women’s contest began with the two teams neck and neck, tied on 20 points after four events. However, a clean sweep in the relays eased the road to victory with a final score of 53-34, improving on the previous year’s winning performance.
The unique nature of the varsity format tests the all-round strength of the entire team, with each swimmer limited to a maximum of three races. The programme consists of seven individual events and two relays for both the men and women: a 100m for each stroke (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly); a 200m Individual Medley (a combination of all four strokes); 200m and 400m freestyle; and finally four 50m freestyle and medley relays for the women and four 100m relays for the men.
Each race is a head-to-head showdown between two representatives from the Oxford and Cambridge teams, with the winner securing four points, second place three points and so forth. However, relay positions can change everything. Each university puts forward only one team, with the winner taking seven points and the loser three. Therefore, tactics and strategy are everything, with the emphasis strongly on the team rather than individual performance.
Highlights of the day include a record- breaking swim from men’s captain Xander Alari-Williams in the 100m breaststroke, and the 200m and 400m freestyle performances from Commonwealth silver medallist and ‘Swimmer of the Match’ (the much preferred title I’m sure), Heerden Herman. Star performances also came from President Naomi Vides, who won both the Individual Medley and the 400m freestyle, as well as contributing an exceptional swim to the women’s 50m freestyle relays. Swimming alongside the women’s captain, Rachel Andvig, they provided a strong lead for Millie Marsden and Holly Winfield to finish and secure the final win.
Great swims also came from some of OUSC’s newer members; freshers James Ross and George Stannard obtained Blues times in the 200m freestyle and 200m Individual Medley respectively, earning them their much deserved Blues. Also special mention to OUSC veteran Kouji Urata, who added a seventh Blue to his collection.
The strength and depth of talent on the team will hopefully ensure that the team will continue be a force to be reckoned with in years to come.
Unfortunately for OUSC, the season has not yet ended and we will be back to the grind at 7am on Tuesday morning. A select team will be heading up to Sheffield for BUCS Team Finals at the end of 9th Week and in Trinity Term a host of open water events will be taking place for the braver amongst us.
So OUSC will get to retain their trophies for another year, despite being reproached by Cambridge for failing to polish them. But what can we say; the inevitability of keeping trophies for consecutive four years is that they are going to gather dust
