Georgia Gray, a first year at New College, plans to swim 15km to raise money for the charity Reading Quest. 

She will swim 600 laps of the Iffley Pool, which she has booked for 9 hours on April 30, though she commented ‘it hopefully won’t take that long!’

Gray, who was born without a right hand and with the bones in her forearm fused, chose to study at Oxford rather than compete in the 2012 Paralympic Games, and holds two national records for the New Zealand Disabled Swim Team. 

She explained that the 15km swim is ‘to celebrate the fact that Reading Quest is 15 years old this year’. 

Reading Quest is a local charity that provides one to one tuition for primary school children struggling with reading, with ‘an intensive six-week program of daily one-to-one teaching to focus on speaking, reading and writing”.

It particularly caters for children from underprivileged backgrounds where English is not often the first language spoken at home, making it difficult for them to do well in class. 

Gray described the organization as ‘a little known charity’, but added, “it’s just awesome that such a small thing can make a fundamental change”. 

She is optimistic that ‘doing a big public event will hopefully raise [Reading Quest’s] profile’ and explained, “The swim for me is just as much about raising awareness for Reading Quest as it is raising money.” 

Gray added, ‘It’s extremely sad that such an educational divide can exist in a city so renowned for its academics.’

She also described the difficulties of fitting a swimming career around Oxford’s notoriously demanding work schedule. This is made only more tricky by the fact that she is currently training to take part in the World Championships next year. 

It’s not only the amount of work that makes training tough for an athlete at Oxford, however. Gray told Cherwell how “this year I fractured my elbow and jaw in a post-bop accident”. 

However, she retains her enthusiasm for her “amazing” sport, and is still on track for both the charity event and next year’s World Championships.

Donations can be made here: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/georgiagray/65896

The latest admission statistics released by Oxford have revealed a fall in applicants this year, despite applications from overseas and private school pupils increasing.

This is the first year where students will pay £9,000 tuition fees. The drop in applications is, however, only 0.6% compared to the previous year. This contrasts with an average drop of around 7% nationally in UCAS applications for the 2012/13 round.

Nonetheless, the number of state school students putting Oxford on their forms fell by 240, whilst 75 more private school pupils applied. In 2011, there was a fall in applications from 2010 levels in both the state and independent sectors.

The figure represents only the second drop in applications to Oxford in a decade, although in 2007/8 the number of applicants fell by 1.8% compared to the previous year.

State school students accounted for 56.6% of offers made to UK students, while private school students made up 41.1%. This is less than 2011, when the number of students accepted from UK private schools fell to 41.5%, a record low in at least the past five years. State schools pupils represented 56.7% of acceptances in 2011, an increase of 1.8% on the previous year and 3.8% since 2007.

Preliminary figures for 2012 entry indicate that UK applications fell from 12,107 to 11,835. There was a slight drop in students applying from EU countries, but non-EU overseas applications rose strongly to increase total overseas applications from 5,236 to 5,408. Overseas applicants pay larger undergraduate fees ranging from £13,200 to  £27,550 per year, and now account for more than 30% of total applicants.

Overall applications in 2011, however, increased from 17,144 to 17,343. The figures demonstrate that the total rise in applications made to Oxford in 2011 was entirely due to an increase in overseas applications.

Deferred entry, which had been consistently around 5% in the last few years, fell to 2% of acceptances in 2011, as applicants sought to avoid higher tuition fees. 

As part of the response to the incoming £9,000 a year tuition fees, the University has agreed to representation targets set down by the Office of Fair Access (OFFA), backed by fee waivers for the poorest students. It has, for the first time, also granted conditional offers requiring at least one A* grade at A level.

Domestic applications are still dominated by students from Greater London and the South East, which together accounted for 38.8% of all acceptances to Oxford in 2011. Both regions produced over 19% of entrants, with either on their own outstripping the combined acceptances from the North, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber regions, which totaled only 12.5%.

British Bangladeshi, Pakistani and black students, particularly Black Caribbean students, are still under-represented at Oxford. Only 0.6% of successful applicants were Bangladeshi and Pakistani, while 1.2% were black.

There were fewer entrants combined from these groups than those of Indian origin alone (2.7%), who along with Chinese students continue to do better than their percentage makeup in the general UK population. However, the success rates of ethnic minority students remain largely remain below 20%, lagging behind those of white students, at 24%.

The most and least competitive courses, ranked by success rates, remain broadly the same, with Economics & Management still attracting far higher numbers of applicants than subjects such as Classics. Whether increased fees will affect subject choices remains to be seen.

In an earlier press release in January, the University announced figures which indicated that state school applicants attending its summer school were more than twice as likely to win a place at Oxford than the national average. 41.7% of students who applied after participating in the 2011 UNIQ summer school, Oxford’s flagship access initiative launched in 2010, received offer letters, compared with around 20.5% of applicants in the same year. 

Rhys Owens, who attended UNIQ in 2010 and is now studying at Hertford, believes its success “demonstrates a general trend of increased access within the university”.

He added, “UNIQ is a particularly good framework for access schemes. But it cannot be seen as the only successful initiative taken by the university.” 

Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton, said, “We are passionately committed to attracting talented students whatever their circumstances. The UNIQ summer schools are a central pillar of our access strategy and we are delighted to see how effective they are.

‘We also believe that by offering the most generous financial support in the country, we have made it more likely that those from under-represented socio-economic backgrounds will choose Oxford. We hope our message is getting across: If you have the ability, Oxford will remove all barriers.”

The University has released comprehensive new statistics for 2011 admissions, as well as the preliminary offer figures for 2012 entries.

Cambridge have won this year’s Xchanging Boat Race in controversial circumstances.

The race was halted after just over ten minutes due to a swimmer blocking the boats’ path as a ‘protest’.

Very soon after the restart a Cambridge win became a formality when Oxford’s Dr Hanno Wienhausen lost the blade of his oar after a collision with the Cambridge team.

Cambridge began the day by winning the coin toss and choosing the Surrey station, leaving Oxford to row from the Middlesex position.

The Dark Blues came away the quickest, drawing a third of a length ahead before the first corner after a sluggish Cambridge start.

The Cambridge team then moved back into contention, allowing their extra weight to tell against a headwind and settling into a strong rhythm.

At the Hammersmith Bridge Oxford still held a very slim advantage, although the Surrey bend allowed Cambridge to nose in front for the first time.

However, the Light Blues failed to capitalise on their position, and Oxford moved back alongside before retaking the lead at the ten minute mark.

Controversy then followed as the race was stopped by a swimmer blocking the boats with Oxford leading by a quarter of a length. Trenton Oldfield, 35, a privately educated Londoner who has an MSc in Contemporary Urbanism from the London School of Economics, risked being struck by the Oxford boat’s blades and was removed from the water by a police launch. He has since been charged with a public order offence.

Following the stoppage, both crews were affected by a build-up of lactic acid, and the river was choppy due to the supporting launches having to turn round.

The umpire, John Garrett, then restarted the crews with a rolling start from the bottom of Chiswick Eyot. This allowed Cambridge to reclaim some advantage, again benefiting from the inside line around the bend. Oxford were quick onto the second and third stroke, though, moving well and retaking the lead.

However, just thirty seconds after the restart, the race was over as a contest. The oar of Oxford 6, Hanno Weinhausen, lost its blade after a collision between the boats. The umpire had been warning Oxford to alter their line and thus judged the collision to be their fault.

Garrett, who was previously Cambridge University Boat Club President, said after the race, “The rules state clearly that the crews have to abide by their accidents.

“Cambridge was not off their station, but in the immediate run up to the clash Oxford were off their station. Cambridge were in the right place so I was happy to allow the result to stand.”

The Cambridge team then cruised to victory, leading easily by several lengths.

At the race’s end Oxford cox, Zoe de Toledo, was heard arguing with the umpire. She argued that she had not ignored the umpire’s commands to change her boat’s line, “There was so much wash that I could not move as fast as I wanted to.”

De Toledo added, “We can’t have a race that ends like this.”

Weinhausen was heard shouting, “My oar broke down in the first hundred metres. That’s a restart.”

When the Umpire announced that he was rejecting Oxford’s appeal, a member of the Oxford crew gave ironic applause.

However, Oxford’s anger quickly turned into concern for their bowman Alex Woods, who had collapsed in the back of their boat and had to be taken into a launch for medical attention.

[mm-hide-text]%%IMG_ORIGINAL%%5169%%[/mm-hide-text]

Alex Woods collapsed from exhaustion at the finish line

Photograph: Sonali Campion

David Nelson, CUBC President and the winning bow rower, commented, “It’s shocking to see Alex in such a state, I hope he’s alright.”

His Cambridge teammate Steve Dudek added, that the team intended to celebrate with “a bit of class.” He added, “We really, really hope he’s alright. Our thoughts are with him.”

Woods is believed to have suffered from severe exhaustion, though is currently conscious and sitting upright.

In response to the controversy surrounding the race, CUBC Vice-President Mike Thorp said, “All we could do in that situation was just do what we’ve been trained to do, not look around and just keep going.”

The usual presentation at the end of the race was cancelled as Alex Woods continued to receive treatment from the medical team.

Following the race, OUBC President Karl Hudspith took to Twitter, saying that he was ‘proud of everyone in the team and how they rowed.’ He also took the opportunity to vent his anger at Oldfield, tweeting, ‘Finally to Trenton Oldfield; my team went through seven months of hell, this was the culmination of our careers and you took it from us.’

Crewmember William Zeng, a doctorate student at Oriel College, was also emotional, tweeting, ‘When I missed your head with my blade I knew only that you were a swimmer, and if you say you are a protester then no matter what you say your cause may be, your action speaks too loudly for me to hear you.

‘I know exactly what you were protesting. You were protesting the right of 17 young men and one woman to compete fairly and honorably, to demonstrate their hard work and desire in a proud tradition.’

‘You were protesting their right to devote years of their lives, their friendships, and their souls to the fair pursuits of the joys and the hardship of sport. You, who would make a mockery of their dedication and their courage, are a mockery of a man.’

A blog that appeared on the internet yesterday, entitled ‘Elitism Leads to Tyranny’ and described as a ‘Statement by Trenton Oldfield’, states, ‘This is a protest, an act of civil disobedience, a methodology of refusing and resistance…I am swimming into the boats in the hope I can stop them from completing the race’.

Reflecting on the race, Cambridge student Julius Handler said, “This is certainly not the way we would have wanted to win. It was a sombre end to a race fraught with misfortune but it was heartening to see the two teams come together in support of Alex Woods.’

Curtis Gallant, another student at Cambridge, added, “What a ridiculous race. I felt so sorry for the guy rowing without an oar for the last five minutes.

‘They were warned multiple times about steering towards the Cambridge boat so they brought it upon themselves somewhat. Even so, this race was definitely not cricket. I feel pretty bad for Oxford, but by the rules Cambridge are rightful winners.”

Gallant added, ‘This is not a proud day for either Oxons or Cantabs’, and, commenting on the swimmer who had caused the race to restart, stated that the event should also raise concerns about “security at the Olympics’.

Sam Rodrigues, a history undergraduate at St Anne’s, said, ‘Considering the delays, the rainy weather and severe overpricing of the beer, I think it was a bit of an anticlimax.’

Lincoln second year Ruth Burrows agreed that the race had been ‘disappointing’, while engineer Oli Roberts described the race as ‘carnage.’

Oxford’s consolation prize was a victory in the reserve competition. The Isis beat Goldie, the Cambridge boat, by four lengths, despite being a stone per man lighter.

Estimates suggest that over 250,000 people attended this year’s race.

Researchers at Oxford have discovered that bones found in the grounds of St John’s College may be those of tenth-century Viking raiders.

It was previously speculated that the remains might have been those of Danes killed in the well documented St Brice’s Day Massacre in 1002 AD, when King Aethelred the Unready ordered the deaths of all Danish men in England.

Academics from the University’s Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art undertook analysis of bones, collagen and dental enamel, which suggested that the skeletons were captured professional warriors from Denmark who were then executed, rather than Danes living in England.

The researchers carried out radio-carbon dating, analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the collagen, and analysis of oxygen and strontium isotopes in the dental enamel. They came to their conclusion by combining these results with a preliminary investigation of the bones by Thames Valley Archaeological Services.

Professor Mark Pollard, Director of the Research Laboratory in the School of Archaeology, explained, “Carbon-dating gives an age slightly earlier than the St Brice’s Massacre, although there are various technical reasons why it might do so. However, results from the collagen showed the group had more seafood in their diet than would be expected for the Oxfordshire region. Furthermore, enamel analysis clearly did not suggest that they were brought up in the Thames Valley.

“We have an ongoing project to look at human populations around Oxford right back to Neolithic times. Further finds will be compared and may help confirm this hypothesis.”

The researchers found similarities to a group of skeletons found on the Weymouth Ridgeway in Dorset, who were identified as Viking raiders.

The skeletons were found in 2008 between St Giles’ and Blackhall Road, buried in a mass grave in sthe ditch of a Neolithic ‘henge monument’. They were mostly of men aged between 16 and 25 who were “robust and taller than average”, analysts explained.

According to the research paper, published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, it appeared that all the skeletons had been stabbed many times shortly before they died, and severe wounds show they were brutally slaughtered.

Some of the men also appear to have older scars, which experts believe could point to the fact that they were professional warriors. There is also evidence of charring on some of the skeletons, showing they may have been exposed to fire before being buried. According to the paper, “this evidence left little doubt that these bodies were the result of a mass execution.”

The knife wounds and charring initially associated the bones with the massacre at St Frideswide’s Church on St Brice’s Day. The church was burnt down during the Massacre, leading to the construction of Christ Church Cathedral.