Tuesday 1st July 2025
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Review: Jules et Jim

Hafsa Hassan
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Review: Jules et Jim

Jules et Jim presents perhaps the epitome of Nouvelle Vague (or New Wave) film: unknown actors, real-life sets, natural lighting, and bags of improvisation – all in all (and very much in the student spirit) a low-budget production. As such, it’s a brilliant effort.

Leg-fetishist director and producer François Truffaut wished to move away from the artificial, grandiose tradition of le cinéma du papa to create something a little closer to home. Based on Henri-Pierre Roché‘s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, Jules et Jim takes an unconventional stance on what could otherwise have been a horribly cliché love-triangle.

Set around the First World War, with authentic wartime footage and newsreel-style voiceovers, you can‘t help but admire Truffaut‘s stylistic choices: he was a firm believer in the notion of le caméra-stylo, the idea that cinematography isn’t just art for art’s (and entertainment’s) sake, but a means of expression for the writer himself.

On a more technical note, however, the concept of the caméra léger (or light/travelling camera) meant that Truffaut could shoot longer detail-based scenes on the move (very hi-tech for 1962), most notably in a ‘search for signs of civilisation’ shot.

And of course, a Truffaut is not a Truffaut without a freeze frame (or four) thrown in for good measure – beautifully done; and if you don’t have your wits about you, you might just miss the most subtle one of them all (I’ll give you a clue: it’s of Jules and Jim…).

Oscar Werner, Henri Serre and Jeanne Moreau who play the roles of Jules, Jim and Catherine respectively, impressively capture the essence of each character and, given Truffaut’s hands-off approach to directing, deliver many a poignant scene in a spectacularly befitting manner that makes for a lasting impression on the audience.

And, if you can’t quite get enough of this fabulous trio, Truffaut’s other Nouvelle Vague films include the semi-autobiographical Les Quatre Cents Coups said to have launched the French New Wave, Les Mistons, a parody short-film of The Misfits, and the legendary A Bout De Souffle co-written with Jean Luc Godard.

Despite its age, Nouvelle Vague remains as fresh as its first conception, allowing Jules et Jim’s endurance and re-release.

Four stars.

Review: Sex And The City

Jack Orlik
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Review: Sex And The City

The makers of the hit television programme Sex and the City sat in a bright, air conditioned room in a high rise office block, sipping mineral water (still), and discussing their next move.

‘Right – we’ve got twenty six minutes of material: Carrie’s getting married, the other girls are having relationship difficulties as usual (I assume), and it’s in New York- the Big City’. ‘Don’t forget the Sex’. ‘Oh yeah. Lots of sex.’ ‘Soooooo… we need another two hours. What shall we do?’ ‘Dresses. Big ones, little ones, ones with straps, ones without. Give each one a five minute close up, and we’re there.’

And so, one rather boring idea was stretched into a very long catwalk of a film. A flat catwalk, with no undulations, no troughs and no peaks, across which Carrie and her gal-pals were invited to parade up and down. They didn’t even trip, Naomi style.

There were some lovely shoes on show: Manolos, Jimmis, Vuittons, Chanels – all of which were slipped on and paraded before our footwear hungry eyes. Mmm. If you don’t like shoes so much, there are always the bags; and the restaurants, and the cocktails look divine. And New York, Oh! New York – ‘A place a girl goes to find two things: labels and love.’

These are the reasons to watch this film. Stroll in, sit down, and allow material beauty to diffuse through your eyes, activating the sexiness centre in the brain (the amygdala).

For the full aesthetic experience, you could even bring earplugs: there shouldn’t be much else to distract you. You’d do well to ignore the music. This film concentrates on the visual, at the expense of everything else: there were at least three (long) scenes that focused entirely on the trying-on and strutting-around-in designer costumes.

If watching a gaggle of quatrogenerians guzzle champagne and spying on Sarah Jessica-Parker crawl tiger-like across the floor is your glass of margarita, you’ll lap up Sex and The City like a spinster in a singles bar, much as the ‘girls’ did at the low points of their lives.

I would describe the plot, but I lost it about fifteen minutes into the film. There was something about a marriage, some other stuff about a cheating husband, and I think someone mentioned a baby at some point, but couldn’t tell you for sure. Every twenty minutes a sex-scene was shoved in: this was a reverse porn film – nudity taking the place of any actual characterisation or storyline.

There’s very little in this film to recommend. The storyline is predictable and facile, as are the jokes. Even if you’re a hardcore fan, wait for the DVD. It has a great fast-forward function.

One star

It’s just not cricket

Archive
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It’s just not cricket

In the world of sport, a sudden emphasis on physical attributes has sprung up. Gone are the days when the late George Best played boozed-up wing-man in a Manchester nightclub on the Friday night, only to become a dazzling winger at Old Trafford the following afternoon.

 

Several of the nation’s sports have been criminally subjected to a sub-standard quality of competitor, with clubs substituting six-pack stomachs for skill. For anyone who finds swallowing this new mindset tougher than a wrestler’s breast tissue, perhaps korfball is an option.

 

 That’s not to say there are eight Andy Fordham body doubles shuffling around the court, but teamwork and tactics are the attributes which gain prominence.  As Rosie Hart, captain of OUKoC explains, ‘it’s much more a tactical game than a show of brute strength.’

 

It is easy to see why. No running, no dribbling, no contact. Indeed, the focus is heavily on a passing game, with attempts to basket the ball only allowed if a defender is not in a position to block the shot.

 

Given that it was founded by Dutch schoolteacher Nico Broekhuysen in the early 20th century, Korfball’s all-inclusive nature should be expected. It is the only truly unisex sport, with four of each gender lining up in an eight-person team.

 

The archetypal ‘fat kid’ won’t be placed in defence the whole game either, as the four attackers and four defenders swap after every two goals – something which Rosie Hart believes ensures the sport’s mammoth popularity: ‘This together with the fact that the vast majority of  people haven’t even heard of korfball before they reach university  helps attract a much wider range of people than any other sport.’

 

Unlike Aussie Rules, which was spotlighted a fortnight ago, korfball has no players from the two countries in which the sport is most prominent – Holland and Belgium; an odd pair of countries, given their flat lands and korfball’s extremely high baskets: they’re over a foot and a half higher than the regulatory basketball and netball variations.

Clearly the sport is translating well to other countries, as the plethora of nationalities which compose the Oxford University squad have experienced recent success, winning two out of the last three Varsity encounters and finishing an impressive 2nd in the BUSA Nationals.

 

Korfball is a game which many people enjoy and gain success in regularly. And there isn’t an African defensive midfielder in sight.

Summer Eights victory for Balliol

Jason Keen
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Summer Eights victory for Balliol

 

A stunning Summer Eights performance from Balliol College saw them seize the men’s headship for the first time in over half a century. Thousands of spectators lined the banks of the Isis last Saturday to see the victorious crew squeak past Oriel, whilst Teddy Hall retained the women’s headship with a thoroughly dominant display.

It was a worthy finish to one of the most competitive Summer Eights contests in recent years, climaxing with the two leading men’s crews on the river battling it out stroke for stroke down the finishing straight.

 

Roaring past the boathouses, the powerful Oriel crew had pushed right up on Balliol and were soon overlapping them by a foot. Balliol cox Zhan Su however bravely steered his boat away from its hot pursuers as his crew held their advantage all the way up to the line, sending their chasing supporters racing joyously back down the riverbank with their arms triumphantly aloft.     

By all accounts it was a deserved victory for an experienced crew who enjoyed a sensational blade-winning performance at Torpids earlier this year, confirming the club’s dominance throughout this year. Although much of the pre-race hype had focused on a Christ Church crew stacked with Blues oarsmen and an Oriel boat that included 36-year-old American World Cup gold medalist Michael Wherley, Balliol demonstrated outstanding technique and rhythm bordering on the sheer mechanical to go the head for the first time since the spring of 1956. 

It marked the end of Magdalen’s own stranglehold on the headship since 2004, as they slid down to a disappointing fourth place on the river, whilst the hotly-tipped Pembroke also dropped from second to fifth after breaking their rudder on the first day. The fall of both crews, both extremely talented, can be attributed chiefly to an impeccable standard of Eights at the top of the men’s division unseen in recent years. 

 

There was a similar show of immaculate rowing in the Women’s Division I, with much of the praise deservingly being showered on what proved once again to be a formidable Teddy Hall crew. Racing to retain the headship, the result was quite simply never in doubt, as they comfortably outclassed the boats behind them with an exhibition of strength that no-one in the division could match.  

Finishing off the week as they had started it – ahead of Christ Church – their captain Helen Taylor was absolutely delighted with finishing head of the river for the third successive year. ‘It’s absolutely incredible,’ she said. ‘We didn’t expect to be able to row that well.’

 

Reflecting on the margin of their victory on a windy last day, she admitted: ‘I don’t know where that came from. We had been rowing well all week, but that last row-over just felt so good. It’s amazing.’

As the winning crews toasted their success however, others were forced to ponder a more subdued Summer Eights. Amongst the disappointed men’s crews were Keble, who suffered the indignity of ‘spoons’ having being bumped down every day from seventh to eleventh on the river. Exeter only escaped the dubious award themselves by holding off Wadham on the final day to cling onto the last spot in Men’s Division I.

 

Meanwhile Worcester were left thanking their lucky stars, having fulfilled all the pessimistic pre-Eights predictions by being comprehensibly bumped on the first three days. Having dropped a horrifying ten places down the river during Torpids last term, they were saved from their second successive set of spoons when Trinity were bumped just as they were closing in on them, securing blades for a veteran Wolfson crew who were the stand-out boat of Division II. 

 

Amongst the women, it was Somervile who went home with a new set of cutlery, as they plummeted from fourth to eighth in Women’s Division I, whilst their rivals Osler-Green rose two places to third.  

Climbing back into Oxford rowing’s top tier was a rejuvenated New College M1, although much of the limelight was dedicated to the progress of the galactico oarsmen in Christ Church’s boat. Brimming with Blues and American graduate students from their affiliated Kellogg College, the aptly nicknamed ‘Gunship’ even paddled up to the start on the first day uniformly clad in khaki vests and tin helmets.

 

Despite three bumps over the course of the week however, they were to be denied blades after Oriel caught Pembroke ahead of them on the second day.

 

It would prove to be the major talking point of this year’s Summer Eights, after it later emerged that Oriel had in fact subbed in their coach, former Great Britain rower Henry Bailhache-Webb, after one of their rowers was struck down by illness – despite Webb having never studied at Oxford University.

 

The controversy saw both the Pembroke and Christ Church men’s crews taking to the water on the third day wearing t-shirts reading ‘I’m at Oxford,’ as Oriel received loud choruses of boos whenever passing the infuriated spectators around the Pembroke and Christ Church boathouses.

 

Oriel Men’s Captain David Woods declined to comment, but it is believed that his crew escaped reprimand due to the fact that Webb was subbing in for a current GB rower and so was not technically improving the rowing standard of the boat.  

 

Webb was back to watching from the bank, however, when his crew were later held off by Balliol to round off a truly memorable week.

Not-So-Golden Brown?

Lewis Goodall
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Not-So-Golden Brown?

Crewe, May 22 2008: the day and place in which Gordon Brown’s premiership may have passed the point of no return.

 

For most of the university students of Britain, this will come as no great shock; you resolved never to tick that box with the rose next to it ever again after it whacked an extra £3,000 a year onto your university expenses. Over the ten years past, however, Labour’s control of British politics had been virtually unassailable.

 

Despite the war, foot and mouth disease, petrol strikes and dodgy dossiers,  people largely had confidence in the government. The bedrock of Labour success, combined with an ineffectual opposition, was a sound, nay flourishing economy, which defined the party’s rhetoric for a decade.

But Melvyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, made clear last week that the good times are over. Unemployment is rising, oil has hit $125 a barrel, and inflation is running at around 4%.

 

All of this can be blamed on global economic forces and dishonest bankers rather than the government. For the voters of Crewe and Nantwich, however, the culprit is clear: Gordon Brown, who would perhaps be forgiven were it not for the 10p debacle that consigned no fewer than 22 million of us to higher tax.

 

According to a Guardian/ICM poll published last Tuesday, Labour are a shocking 14 points behind the Conservatives – worse than at any time since May 1987, just before Margaret Thatcher won her third election by a landslide. The poll also asked voters to compare Brown to David Cameron; the latter leads Brown by a 21 point gap today. 

 

In pursuit of ‘triangulation’ and that supposed political nirvana of ‘Middle England’, Labour has become unrecognisible to its core voters. On inheritance tax, on income tax, on immigration, on anti-terrorism legislation, Gordon Brown has maintained the shoddy New Labour practice of stealing the Right’s clothes.

And here we return to Crewe. The people of this old industrial railway seat, which has delivered a Labour MP for the past sixty years, felt out of touch with their longtime party and thus delivered a real blow to Labour by electing a Tory MP last Thursday.

 

Yet Gordon may be able to reverse this if he reconnects with the core vote. Why not deliver on that pledge to build 3 million new homes? Why not work on his target of eliminating child poverty by 2020, something the Rowntree Foundation says he will fall well short of? What of the pledge for a renewed constitutional settlement?

 

Drag it out of the mindless tedium of committee discussion and bring it to the people. There are potentially a further two years of this government, and if Brown is bold, he can at least make them  two years to remember.

Democracy in Africa

Nicholas Cheeseman
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Democracy in Africa

May 25 2008 was the 50th Anniversary of African Liberation Day, which was founded by the leaders of independent African states at the first conference held to mark their freedom (uhuru) from colonial rule in Accra, Ghana, in 1958.  During the intervening five decades, the hopes of what independence would bring were dashed on the rocks of authoritarian rule and economic collapse. 

 

However, a tentative process of recovery since the early 1990s suggests that,  as in 1958, Africa now stands at a crossroads.  African countries are more likely to make good on this new opportunity if foreign governments maintain the pressure on African leaders to democratise, but Western governments should not overplay their hand.

 

African Liberation Day was established with three main aims.  First, to celebrate the achievement of those states that had already gained independence.  Second, to highlight the plight of those countries that at the time were still labouring under forms of colonial rule.  Finally, to demonstrate and reinforce pan-African solidarity and to critique Western imperialism. Sadly, many of these aims remain unfulfilled. 

 

Although there is no one ‘Africa’, but rather a collection of remarkably diverse states, the depressing fate of the continent has resulted in its becoming synonymous with famine and conflict in the public consciousness. 

 

With a few exceptions – including Botswana and Mauritius – external domination during colonial rule was replaced either by civil conflict or by military rule and single-party dominance.  While Africa finally became ‘free’  with the end of apartheid in South Africa in the early 1990s, many African states remain so desperately poor that their independence is compromised by their economic reliance on foreign powers. 

 

African governments now find that economic policy is largely dictated by the IMF and the World Bank; a subordinate position in the global economy makes it virtually impossible to go it alone.

 

Since the early 1990s, however, things have started to change. The remarkable commitment of African peoples to democracy, the weakening of authoritarian regimes, and the encouragement of the international community have resulted in political liberalization. 

 

Most African countries now hold multi-party elections, and many have started on the long road to economic recovery.  However, African elites in countries including Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe have shown that they are not yet ready to play by the rules of the democratic game.

 

Both Western and African governments have an important role to play in persuading these elites to relinquish their grip.  Democratic African leaders must not let their commitment to pan-African solidarity gag them from speaking out against human rights abuses perpetrated by African leaders. 

 

The US and the UK must not allow their war on terror to promote supportive relationships with friendly authoritarian governments such as those in Kenya and Ethiopia.  African and Western governments should coordinate to protect pro-democracy activists and demand that leaders respect their own constitutions.

But it is naïve to think that foreign governments, whether African or Western, can ensure successful democratisation.  They are far more effective at immediate regime change than at securing long-term stability, as demonstrated by the painful case of Iraq. 

 

Robert Mugabe has shown that authoritarian rule can be maintained in the face of international condemnation and domesticeconomic collapse, so long as leaders are sufficiently devious and self-serving. Instead, African populations must devise new ways to hold their leaders accountable, and African leaders must allow their power to be constrained. 

 

Genuine democracy in Africa can only come from within.

Dishing out the dirt

Eithne Bradley
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Dishing out the dirt

A few weeks ago, John Major came to my college on invitation by the Master. His visit was remarkably unremarkable apart from one question taken from the floor: ‘What do you think of those who publish gossipy memoirs?’

He answered, rather irritably, that he thought them unfair: not without due reason. Since news of his affair with Edwina Currie broke, he has had to weather all the media sniggering that he perhaps thought he’d left behind with No. 10.

 

He even expressed some sympathy for his former adversary, Gordon Brown, since at that very moment, Brown, on top of a crushing by-election defeat, was having to field unwanted questions of his own as three different memoirs – by Cherie Blair, Lord Levy and John Prescott – were released in just a few days.

 

All of them have some dirt to dish on the current Prime Minister, which can only make his present situation even more unpleasant. But why do they do it?

 

Well, the theory is that authors write memoirs, then auction them off to the highest-bidding publisher, sometimes in unfinished form. It’s rumoured that Tony Blair got a  £4.6m advance on his; a good investment for someone now semi-retired.

 

Then come the newspaper serialisations of juicy titbits, which can fetch up to £200,000 extra. These serialisations sell newspapers as well as books, although the formula is not always perfect: Hillary Clinton’s offering tanked despite huge media coverage, perhaps because she refused to even touch on subjects that she hadn’t already spoken about at length, such as her husband’s affair.

Others, however, like Cherie Blair, publish to ‘set the record straight’. Cherie claims that Tony didn’t stand down before 2007, as he had promised Brown, because he feared Brown would abandon his reforms on foundation hospitals and city academies –  which, as all good politics students could surmise, is perhaps not the entire truth.

 

People also seek to justify their place in history, as Prescott attempts with his account of his alleged peacemaking role between the warring Ministers, and also to settle a score. Burying the hatchet – in your opponent’s back – and making a tidy sum out of it: the perfect occupation for a retired politician.

But political memoirs have to be saleable. Hillary learned that even though you may have lived through interesting times, that doesn’t equal interested buyers: it’s old news. By contrast, books published on the back of current events, such as Alastair Campbell’s infamous diaries, do very well, although it remains to be seen how well the current crop fares.

 

Cherie’s memoir in fact wasn’t due till October, but with the intense media pressure building on Brown right now, the memoir could be a winner. But a word of warning: however they try and justify it, politicians are writing, for money, from their own point of view, and as a species they lie more than most. Don’t believe everything you read in their pages.

Oxide runs out of breath

Cherwell Comment
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Oxide runs out of breath

No one would deny that this is a very sad situation. For a leading UK university, so bright and brimful in almost every other extra-curricular field, to have losts its radio station is something of a pity.

 

At the likes of UEA, the student radio is the flagship society, providing valuable and well-recognised experience in production and presenting.

 

Here, alas, Oxide has been something of a running joke for several years, bordering on embarrassment when a dozen group invitations to listen to certain shows turn out to have come from some of your closest friends. It is a peculiar phenomenon that your average student knows any number of DJs, but would be hard pressed to name anyone who actually listens.

This should not necessarily matter; however niche its audience of internet phantoms, the very mechanism of producing a radio show should stand its staff in good stead. Something like practicing squash shots in an empty court; the moves pay off in competitive situations.

 

Yet it seems the Oxide experience has not only been akin to practicing said sport with a broken racquet and a punctured ball, but in fact – stretching the analogy somewhat – playing in some really nice trainers that they shoplifted on the quiet.

No offence to the unsuspecting staff, but music piracy is no longer cool. It’s not 1964 any more and Oxide is not Radio Caroline. Most mortified should be those broadcasting music by struggling, minor label outfits – those purportedly doing most for alternative artists.

 

Not paying royalties is no gesture of defiance, not sticking it to The Man, but simply wrong. And not knowing about it isn’t exactly an excuse. It’s just quite unprofessional.

 

Given its, shall we say, irregularities, it is probably for the best and certainly correct that Oxide stop broadcasting. As Rich Hardiman somewhat glibly puts it, it may have some kind of long term benefit. Like the overhaul of the Prussian state and military following defeat at Jena in 1806 and its subsequent annexation by Napoleon.

 

Within 70 years, will Oxide have absorbed all other Oxford media, as a precursor to an imperialist programme ending in world war? Probably not. But this sobering comedown, taken together with their previous and greater errors, may lead to a summer of serious reform.

 

Maybe an emergency cash injection, and a revived station with higher standards come next year. Or is this, like so many of Oxide’s erstwhile shows, doomed to be swallowed up by silence?

Dark Blues in Varsity win

Sally Hughes
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Dark Blues in Varsity win

Oxford’s men’s Blues bounced back from defeat in 2007 with some spectacular performances on Saturday to record a tenth win in eleven Varsity outings.

The women were equally impressive, notching up a third consecutive Blues win for the first time ever. Oxford were agonisingly close to repeating their grand slam of 2006, as the Millipedes also won, but the Centipedes narrowly went down 102-108.

The men won the first five events to open a clear lead. Josh Abraham-Steele and Garrett Johnson reigned supreme in the hammer, hurling 46.71m and 45.15m respectively for an Oxford 1-2.

Long jumper Andrew Bullimore responded well to early Cambridge pressure, his 6.81m first round jump a centimetre shy of the Light Blue lead. Refusing to settle for second place, Bullimore showed his class in the final round with a massive 7.01m leap, snatching another crucial victory for the Oxford men.

Alex Skouby showed similar fighting spirit to win the high jump, pulling out a stunning final attempt clearance at 1.95m to win both the competition and his first full Blue.

On track, Danny Eckersley lived up to his billing as favourite over 400m hurdles, his nearest challenger team mate Aaron Mason. Mason fell at the 9th hurdle from 2nd place, but still rose to bravely finish ahead of his Tab rivals.

Richard Hildick-Smith kept Oxford on course with victory over 800m. Leading from the gun, Hildick-Smith relentlessly wound up the pace, pulled away down the back straight, and extended his lead all the way home to win in 1:53.62s.

Hannah Hogben drew first blood for the women, her 39.76m hammer throw winning the event by six metres. On track, OUAC President Sally Hughes fought hard in the 400m hurdles, running a PB and Blues standard time 65.18.

Despite an early lead, she succumbed to Cambride’s Lucy Spray in the home straight. Injured Martine Bomb had to watch her specialist event from the sidelines, but pulled out the gutsiest performance of the day to win the 100m hurdles after only a week back on track, her 15.29s clocking earning Bomb a fourth full Blue.

Women’s captain Steph Madgett joined Frances Smithson in making it an Oxford 1-2 in the Long Jump. Smithson’s 5.63m leap was her first of three wins, as she also secured victories in the high jump (1.66m) and triple jump (11.00m), and third place in the javelin, scoring an unmatched 17 points for the women.

Despite the string of Dark Blue victories elsewhere, Cambridge dominated the short sprints. Only Dominique Smith was able to prevent a Cambridge whitewash. Smith demonstrated her notorious speed out of the blocks, recording a PB 12.76s over 100m, and following it up with a 26.15s 200m, but had to settle for 2nd in both behind the in-form Cambridge Captain Spray.

It was a different story over 400m. As chants of ‘Oxford’ echoed round the track, men’s captain Phil Duggleby and James Morrissey were a class apart, leaving the Tabs far in their wake to record a clear Oxford 1-2 in 50.11s and 50.46s.

Julia Lange showed her class in defeating GB’s Charlotte Roach over 800m in 2:16.74s. Roach had the last word as she reversed the result in the mile, winning in a match record 4:53.60s. Also impressive was Clare Kane as she doubled up over the 800 and Mile for the Millipedes, winning both comfortably.

While the Millipedes’ victory was narrow in points, it was conclusive in records; the Oxford girls racked up three throughout the day. Emily Binner started the spree with a dip finish to win the 400m in 60.03, one second inside the previous best. Gina Hood went on to equal the High Jump record of 1.55m, and Katie Moore shattered the 5000m record, improving it by almost 30 seconds to 17:47.65.

With the match record ball rolling, it was time to step up a gear. Oxford’s Garrett Johnson currently lies 5th in the world rankings for shot put, so it was no surprise to see him launch a 19.94m put to improve the match record by over three metres.

It was Johnson’s second record of the day, following a stunning 55.13m discus throw, metres beyond her previous best.

Bethany Staniland was the unsung heroine of the women’s Blues, winning three events. She was a class apart, taking the discus in 36.33m, the javelin in 35.40m, and shot put in 11.34m. Sean Gourley called time on his glittering Oxford career, winning the javelin for the Centipedes.

Ineligible for Blues after winning four matches, Gourley threw 43.84m to add one final victory to his collection from previous years.
Nick Cook and Matthew Brown also starred for the Centipedes, Cook winning the tough 400m/800m double in 50.83 and 2:01.84. Brown demonstrated his versatility just seven weeks after hanging up his Isis oar to win the 110m hurdles in 16.52s and 200m hurdles in 27.66s.

The most enthralling encounter of the day was the men’s 5000m, as OUCCC Captain Ian Kimpton duelled with CUAC’s James Kelly for every inch of the 12 ½ laps. Inspired by Oxford’s earlier victories in the mile (Richard Franseze) and steeplechase (David Bruce), Kimpton kicked hard at the bell and hung on to smash his PB, winning in 14:45.20s.

Ali Crocker and Marina Johns continued the Oxford distance dominance with a 1-2 finish in the inaugural 2000m steeplechase. This saw Crocker smash her personal best by 13 seconds, winning in 7:10.96s.

The icing on the Dark Blue cake was undoubtedly the men’s 4x400m. The match already safe, the Blues proved they were a class apart, winning by more than eight seconds. More satisfying was seeing the Centipedes quartet beat the Cambridge Blues.

Although the Centipedes narrowly lost their match, they can take huge pride in this blue-ribband victory. Men’s Captain Phil Duggleby reflected on the success, attributing it to hard work throughout the year.

Steph Madgett paid tribute to her team, saying they had ‘run their socks off’ to earn victory.

It’s just not cricket

Billy Kenber
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It’s just not cricket

Go-karting. Easy right? It’s like learning to drive at Legoland without the brightly coloured blocks.

Thing is, this wasn’t a light dabble on a stag night; this was University Karting. And not just some training course, I was signed up to compete in the actual Varsity Race 2008.

The night before, Team Captain Jamie Harvey advises me to watch a video of him going round the track we’ll be racing on. I do: he’s going very fast. Dispirited I decide an online go-karting game would be a better way of honing my skills. I come third, it’s a promising omen.

Race day: 0800 hrs. Up far too early, to catch the minibus to the track. We’re heading to Rye House in North London. Jamie admits its one of the harder tracks. Spirits buoyed by last nights online game.

Ah well, what’s the worst that can happen?

Foolishly I ask that exact question to Will Brat. A second year at Lincoln, Will is currently spending his summers racing around Europe in Formula 3. Apparently the karts stay the right side up as long as they don’t hit any gravel.

‘What happens if I hit a piece of gravel?’ I ask apprehensively. ‘You’ll flip over, probably just break a few ribs if you’re lucky,’ comes back Will’s reply. Great.

Some time later I find myself suited up in overalls clutching a very tight Homer Simpson branded helmet in the hanger as we get briefed.

Apparently the karts we’ll be using are a lot faster than the normal ones (5-60 in 3.5 seconds, top speed 75mph!) and I’m meant to have quite a bit of training. I stay quiet. Can’t let the team down now.

It’s race time. The race is an hour long and everyone is split into pairs – go ‘Oxford F’ – with the drivers changing halfway through.

My partner, Rob Apsimon, goes first. Our main aim is not to come last. Rob does well and by the time he pulls in to change drivers we’re a few laps up on the worst Cambridge team. Trouble is, now it’s my turn. Here we go, foot, accelerator, shit, this, really, is, quite, fast.

The race itself is a bit of a blur but by the end I’m barely able to walk. Turns out all those g-forces from turning corners at speed are pretty exhausting.

Oh, and the result. Well Oxford won as Harvey and his co-driver were the faster pair on the day. And me? Well lets just say I spun out eight times. Quite conclusively last. Turns out karting isn’t quite like the video games after all.

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