Sports highlights: End of term

The following highlights from various sports clubs and teams were compiled from recent reports. If any captains or team members have a result that you’d like to feature in the next round-up, please contact comms@caths.cam.ac.uk.

University of Cambridge Sports Awards

St Catharine’s students and teams were celebrated as finalists at the University of Cambridge Sports Awards ceremony held on 17 June. In addition to the St Catharine's students nominated in six categories reported earlier this term, Ailie Rennie (2019, Criminology; now a Criminology PhD candidate) was also singled out for Sporting Moment of the Year. She was a finalist thanks to her goals for Cambridge University Athletic Football Club women’s team in their 3-0 Varsity victory: she scored both the second goal minutes before the end of the first half (with a header from a corner kick) and the third and final goal (with a long-range shot in the second half).

It was revealed at the ceremony that the Women’s Blues Hockey Club won the Team of the Year award. The 2023–24 team included Georgina Turner (a final-year Management Studies and Geography undergraduate) playing as a returning Blue (having been awarded a Full Blue in 2023) and Karen Rodriguez (a final-year Music undergraduate) who earned a Full Blue for hockey this year.

Rowing

Cambridge raced against some of the best club, university and junior crews in the country on 1 June at the Metropolitan Amateur Regatta at Eton Dorney, Windsor. (CUBC)

• Matt Edge was at stroke in the men’s Open Championship Eight that took first place out of 83 eights entered.
• Thomas Heppel (a third-year Psychological & Behavioural Sciences undergraduate) was at bow in the men’s Open Academic 4+ was the only Academic four to make the A Final in their division and came a close second, and also secured medals in the Academic 4+ category.
• Clare Hole (2020, Natural Sciences; now a Population Health Sciences MPhil student) was at stroke in the women's Championship Eight that came nineth in the time trial, narrowly missing out on a place in the A Final, but then won the B Final with a commanding margin. 

A full report of the St Catharine’s College Boat Club preparations for this year’s May Bumps and our crews’ performance on the River Cam last week will be published very soon.

Cycling 

Tom Wade, (2016, Natural Sciences; who returned for a PhD at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy) represented Cambridge in the British Universities and Colleges Sport 10-mile time trial and came 11th in the Open category (out of 57 entrants). Tom and the rest of the men’s team secured silver medals in the team competition (where results are based on the total of the fastest three riders from each university). 

Football

On 14 June, a team comprising female and non-binary students from St Catharine’s, Gonville & Caius and Hughes Hall took on a team representing Churchill, Christ's and Lucy Cavendish in a long-awaited Plate Final. Anna Geary, a fourth-year MML undergraduate and one of the senior St Catharine’s players on the team, said:

“Despite leaving absolutely everything out on the pitch, our fresh, young team was unable to compete with the experience and admirable quality of the opponents, who came out on top with a 5-0 victory. The scoreline, however, does not justly represent the commitment and tenacity of the entire squad, made up largely of beginners, who fought for every ball and kept up the energy to the very end, even in the pouring rain! Having spent the season playing similarly capable teams in a higher division than perhaps we ought to have been, CatzCaiusHughes can be nothing but delighted with what we have accomplished this year. Managing to put up a good fight against such a tough opposition is a considerable achievement, of which every player should be proud, and a testament to a year of hard work, progress and dedication to the beautiful game.”