Two weeks on from the London Mara­thon, Sunday 10th May was Oxford’s turn to capitalise on the running bug. Nearly 4,000 runners took to the streets for the Town and Gown 10k through the city centre, many more lining the streets to cheer on their friends, family and fellow students.

Starting outside Keble, runners got to en­joy a tour of the city’s most historic sites on traffic-free roads, looping round to Magdalen and back up to St Giles via Cornmarket Street, before finishing in the University Parks. At not quite a half marathon, it’s a challenging but far from overly gruelling trial for most runners, with costumes abounding.

Miles Unterreiner put in the fastest time of the day, with a highly impressive 31:23, a minute in front of his closest rival. Having taken BUCS 10k silver last week, Unterreiner seems to be enjoying an excellent run of form at the moment.

The first woman home was Sophie Carter, of Belgrave AC, who took her third victory in this race in the last five years, clocking in at 36:32.

Much as with the London Marathon, to look only at the frontrunners is to misjudge the nature of the event.

In fact, the race is organised by the char­ity Muscular Dystrophy UK, with all profits going to the charity which helps those with a variety of muscle-wasting conditions. The most common, Duchenne Muscular Dys­trophy, affects only males and has no cure, with a life expectancy for sufferers of around 20 years. From only this event last year, the charity managed to raise an incredible £155k, and, although final figures are not in, they hope to improve on this figure from this year’s event considerably given the surge in turn-out.

The race was started at 10am by the char­ity’s patron, author Christine Hamilton. There was also a junior 3km run beforehand. The youth event was not without incident though, after it had to be restarted after about ten minutes when the supporting motorcade took a wrong turn.

For the main event there was a late surge of interest as students and Oxford residents rushed to register on the morning of the race. One race organiser suggested to Cher­well that over 700 runners had registered on the day of the race itself.

A huge amount of credit is due to all finish­ers, both for raising funds and the training along the way. Following a record Oxford turnout at the London Marathon, it looks very much as though the Dark Blue momen­tum continues.

When I finally decided to hang up my life jacket, five years ago now, I thought that it was for good. Oh buoy, how could I have been so wrong? When the call came in for any able-bodied volunteers, willing to take to the high seas (reservoir), in a desperate bid to defend our college’s pride and naval territories in this year’s sailing cuppers, I knew the time had come. As my old kit no longer fitted me, I donned my dad’s old life jacket, which had a retro and ‘hip’ (so I am told) style to it; it wouldn’t look amiss in Cellar. But in all seriousness, I did learn during the day that for yearly ‘initiations’, the Oxford Sailing Club goes out to Park End in their wetsuits and buoyancy aids.

So, early on Saturday 2nd May, we caught a bus over to Farmoor reservoir, a relatively large basin of water, split in two by a sizeable concrete wall. Whilst being initially confused as to why the reservoir had been divided in two, we wouldn’t have to wait long before our question was answered. As we stood in the clubhouse, staring at the great wall with confusion, we were called over to a dark corner of the bar by an old and mysterious man who we hadn’t noticed before.

“Beware ye who take to the waters on Farmoor reservoir. Beware ye of the killer shrimp! The only person to have encountered the killer shrimp and lived to tell the tale is old Mr MacPherson over there.”

But when we attempted ask this man more about his unfortunate encounter, we were met by screams of sheer terror.

Despite the warnings, we had come to sail and sail we would do. From the start, we knew we would be up against it, with only one of our team of four being an experienced regular Blues sailor. For Sailing Cuppers, as for regular training and inter-university competitions at the club, we were sailing the two-man Firefly dinghies. The Firefly has two sails, the mainsail and the jib, the smaller sail at the bow. Whilst the crew trims the jib and assists in ‘hiking out’, the helmsman steers the boat and controls the mainsail. In the morning, the group stages took place, in which we had eight races, which would decide which of the leagues we would start in for the afternoon’s racing, either bronze, silver or gold.

The short course made for some very close and exciting racing. Before the starting gun goes off, a three minute warning is given, during which time each boat strategically tries to determine if one end of the start line is favourable, and also time their approach to the line.

After a slow start, it was clear that my sailing prowess had gone somewhat rusty. The first leg of the course was up-wind, so you had to sail in a zig-zag pattern up towards the mark. After rounding the mark, there was a short reach (across the wind) to the second mark, followed by a long run (with the wind) down towards the bottom mark, then across to the last mark and up to the finish line.

Although we may not have fared too well according to the results, we brave few were definitely able to draw some personal satisfaction from not having capsized and avoiding an ugly death at the antennae of the killer shrimp.
After a fierce battle in the bronze league, we managed to scrape a respectable result with a nail-biting, yet very amateurish, finish to our last race.

But that’s enough about the minnows; in the Gold league some very strong boats from Lincoln (whose sailing stash was the envy of all the sailors there) and Brasenose battled it out for the coveted title of sailing cuppers champion. In the end, it was all smooth sailing for Brasenose, sinking their rivals and cruising to victory.

You may have had the fortune of being in Balliol bar on a Tuesday night, supping on a nice pint of their signature Balliol Blue and stood watching a bunch of slightly worse-for-wear freshers gathered around the pool table moments before they brave the Hawaiian wilds of Lola Lo. You may have stood bemused as you watched them try to harness their inner Ronnie O’Sullivan, measuring angles and owning the perimeter of the table with the same swagger as “the greatest player ever to have picked up a cue”. Not that I mean to conflate Snooker and Pool – there is a signifi­cant difference, believe me – but, in truth, the only overlap between their game and Ronnie’s is the alcohol.

However, some men and women in our midst have mastered this art that eludes the intrepid punters of the college bars and JCRs across university: the Oxford University Pool and Snooker Club (OUPSC). Armed with just a cue and the clothes on their back, these troopers stepped behind enemy lines at the end of 2nd Week for their varsity showdown. Smarting from a 16 frames to nine defeat in the annual Town vs Gown match, the pool contingent of OUPSC were looking to equal their snooker counterparts who had already demolished the Tabs and their questionable Light Blue waist­coats 27 frames to 5 in Cowley back in March, in the first such clash since 2003.

By contrast the pool varsity has been a more regular fixture in the OUPSC calendar, with a contest having taken place every year since 1987. The format is a familiar one; a total of 90 frames are fiercely battled in both singles and doubles matches over two days. Historically, the Oxford side has dominated, leaving their Cantab counterparts in their wake with a staggering 16 victories between 1987 and 2005, dominance rarely seen in any varsity match across all sports. However, the last 10 years have seen an increased period of Light Blue dominance, in which Cambridge scored six convincing victories, including in the 2013 and 2014 editions of this vaunted varsity.

Hot off the heels of finishing top of their league, OUPSC were in good spirits as they ar­rived at the Cambridge Snooker Centre, itself a stone’s throw away from the famous Abbey Stadium, where minnows Cambridge United held Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney & Co to a scoreless draw in the FA Cup 3rd Round back in February, before being defeated hand­ily in Manchester. Was this to be a dark omen for the Tabs?

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After scraping victory in the first set of sin­gles, 19 frames to 17, the Dark Blues followed up with victory in the day’s doubles portion 10-8. Rapidly, the pool varsity showdown had begun to closely resemble that fabled cup-tie, as the two sides were almost at deadlock following the first day’s proceedings, as Oxford held a slender lead of just 4 frames at the close of play.

The second day was a different story altogether as Oxford’s class began to show. Ox­ford’s men began to notch victory after victory, quickly racking up an unassailable lead from what had initially seemed a closely matched contest. Clinical performances from Chris Yates, who notched a powerful 3-0 victory in his second singles match and Ben Green, who sank the winning black, were at the heart of this second day dominance as the Dark Blues clinched a 52-38, their first varsity victory since 2012. The performer of the weekend, however, was Alex Gregory-Allen who was nearly flaw­less, coming away with eight wins from nine.

Old and new, experienced veterans and green rookies all took to the University Parks last Saturday to play a part in an enthralling mixed lacrosse Cuppers tourna­ment.

The format of the competition was simple with the teams being randomly allocated into four pools of five teams. From there, only the winners of each of the four groups would ad­vance to the semi-finals. Although some teams failed to show up, each group had at least four teams competing. With all the teams knowing that only one side would progress from each group, each match was vital and a series of tense encounters ensued.

Following on from their netball Cuppers success, Teddy Hall managed to qualify for the next round with relative ease after fending off competition from colleges such as Brasenose. Their semi-final opponents were competition favourites Keble, who had struggled to over­come Lady Margaret Hall at the group stages.

In the other half of the draw, it was St Hilda’s who navigated a tricky group which included colleges such as St Catherine’s and Queens. It was in the last group that the battle for a berth into the semi-final was most intense, with no team in the group dominating its op­ponents. Oriel and Christ Church both started impressively, with Oriel winning their first match 4-0. Christ Church also got off to a hot start, beating their first two opponents, which included Oriel.

However, it was the joint team of Wad­ham and St Anne’s that were to finish strongly in the group and qualified to the next stage. They only dropped points in the last match in a 1-1 draw against an Oriel team.

St Hilda’s played Wadham/St Anne’s in a tight game that was, in the end won, by Wad­ham/St Anne’s, surprising given that they had only been formed as a team on the day of the tournament.

Even more surprising, however, was the result of the next semi-final. In a reversal of the recent rugby Cuppers victory over them, Teddy Hall overcame the odds to beat the much-fancied Keble side.

In the final of what had been, up to this point, an unpredictable tournament, there came a match that was never really in doubt. Buoyed by their stunning victory over Keble, Teddy Hall continued in that fierce vein of form and swept into the final confident of their ability to overcome a team that had only been created on the day of Cuppers itself. Wad­ham and St Anne’s could not quite overcome their opposition and fell to defeat at the last after their own remarkable performance that day. It was a familiar final result in what had been a surprising tournament full of shocks and close fought battles.

It’s that time of year again: we’re well and truly on the road to Summer VIIIs. With everyone back from training camps and capitalising on relatively clement weather at the start of Trinity, the Isis looks set to host another thrilling set of bumps races.

Starting at head of the river and looking to continue their winning ways this term is Oriel in the men’s league. Strengthened by the arrival of three Blues rowers, they are certain to be confident in holding off Pembroke on the

Wednesday. However victory is far from guaranteed. Rumours are circulating of a Christ Church gunship stacked to high heaven with OUBC oarsmen who have learned from past mistakes and started training as a crew from the  start of term. Should they be able to become more than the sum of their parts this crew has the potential to be very quick – definitely one to watch.

Noteworthy too are Keble who look set for another year of tearing up the charts with a ridiculous number of University oarsmen. Sadly, without a serious increase in fi repower, I fear Magdalen will be left rowing over every day. Similarly Trinity without Stan Louloudis and Mike Di Santo will struggle to replicate their strong performance from last year. Prize for the biggest grudge on day one has to go to Balliol who will be wanting to bump Wolfson into the bank after dropping half a division thanks to an unfortunately timed bump in the Gut on Friday of Torpids.

Whilst Torpids was a fairly open and shut case with predictable bumps, the bottom end of division one and the top of division two of VIIIs has some genuinely interesting line-ups taking form. The top end of division two sees New College chasing Hertford chasing Wadham. All three crews did very well in Torpids across division one and the top of division two – it will be interesting to see who comes out on top this time in a direct comparison.

The bottom of division one sees Wadham and Hertford chasing Teddy Hall as sandwich boat. I’m sure either of these crews will be faster than Teddy Hall but can they catch them before Teddy Hall catch Worcester? A correct prediction in this region means guaranteed fantasy bumps success.

Elsewhere Jesus and Mansfield will be looking to build on their strong performance at Torpids. LMH, filled with Blues, will be looking to make up for a weaker start to the season and get revenge on Brasenose.

On the women’s side, Wadham was untouchable at Torpids and I expect more of the same dominant form come 5th Week. Their crew is strengthened with the addition of Madeline Badcott from the dominant OUWBC crew and will be looking to claim a double headship. I expect Pembroke to take at least third place and maybe even snatch second on the river from St John’s with their smattering of Blues. The field further down the division looks set to be filled with very exciting racing; expect very few bumps before Boathouse Island.

Keble, Wolfson and Hertford – all stormed their way to blades in Torpids and now start ninth, tenth and eleventh respectively in division one. Balliol will be boosted by Caryn ‘Superwoman’ Davies so expect them to perform respectably after an average Torpids campaign. Infused with ‘Bostrom magic’, Lincoln will be looking to continue their Torpids success (up three) into VIIIs.

I’ll conclude with a few picks and tips from elsewhere. Teams to look out for include Regent’s Park, who despite being low down the field put in a strong performance at Torpids, and Pembroke W2 and Balliol W2 which both seem to have good depth and strength in their squads.

With well over 10,000 spectators in attendance Summer VIIIs stands out as one of the most popular rowing events in the UK. It’s not to be missed.