Sports highlights: Blues & Varsity special

In parallel with the regular season of intercollegiate competitions, St Catharine’s students can be selected by the University of Cambridge’s sports clubs to compete in national competitions and Varsity fixtures against the University of Oxford. Students may even be awarded a Full Blue (or simply a Blue), Half-Blue or Second Team Colours for representing Cambridge at the highest level of university sport, which must include being in a Varsity Match or Race against Oxford.

Read on to find out some of the ways that St Catharine's students have competed for the University of Cambridge this term.

Badminton

Annie Zhu (a third-year Medical Sciences undergraduate) has co-captained the Cambridge University women’s badminton team this season. Her Blues side picked up gold medals with a fantastic 5-3 win over Birmingham at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Midlands Conference Finals.

Basketball                                                             

Millie Moore (a second-year Human, Social & Political Sciences undergraduate) played for the women’s basketball team in the Varsity match on 2 March (sadly losing to Oxford). She went on to achieve Full Blue status after beating Coventry 42-36 in the recent BUCS competition.

Equestrian

Rachel Jackson (a Medical Sciences PhD student) is looking forward to riding for the Cambridge University Equestrian Team in the Varsity match on 5 May. The team has also qualified for the Midlands regional finals on 8 May. 

Fencing

Dan Twine (a final-year Natural Sciences undergraduate) competed for the Cambridge University Fencing Club’s Varsity match against Oxford on 2 March. The team won 127-124, which is Dan’s fourth win from the four Varsity matches that he’s played in. 

Football

Alumna Ailie Rennie (2019, Criminology) is now a Criminology PhD candidate and was selected to play for Cambridge University Association Football Club women’s team in their Varsity match on 15 March, which finished a resounding 3-0 victory. Ailie scored the second goal minutes before the end of the first half (with a header from a corner kick) and then the third goal (with a long-range shot in the second half).

Daniel Sanchez (a third-year Engineering undergraduate) played in the Varsity match for the men’s second team (the Falcons) when they won 3-2, while Harry Benton (a second-year Economics undergraduate) played in the Varsity match for the men’s third team (the Kestrels), who lost 0-1 to Oxford.

Gymnastics

Will Chapman (a second-year Psychological & Behavioural Sciences undergraduate) captained the Cambridge University Gymnastics Club men’s A team, which included Ben Timmins (a final-year Engineering undergraduate) at the Varsity competition on 25 February. The A team unfortunately lost, but Ben was able to claim third place overall. 

Hockey

Karen Rodriguez and Georgina Turner (both fourth-year Management undergraduate) played for Cambridge University Hockey Club in the Varsity matches on 3 March. Their women’s Blues team won 4-0, the biggest Cambridge scoreline that records show and the first back-to-back Cambridge win since 1999 for the women's side. This season has also seen Cambridge’s women promoted to the BUCS Premier League, and to the National League for the first time in ever. 

Olly Gedney (a final-year Engineering undergraduate) also played for the men's Blues side on 3 March, who narrowly lost 0-1 to Oxford. Both Karen and Olly received their Blues after their matches.  

Heather Magee (a fourth-year Modern & Medieval Languages undergraduate) was picked for the women's second team (the Nomads), who won their Varsity match on 18 February 1-0 and Heather scored their winning goal.

Karate

Nirmay Jadhav (a second-year Engineering undergraduate) travelled with Cambridge University Karate Club (CUKC) to Oxford for their Varsity competition. Nirmay secured second place for Individual Kata (routines) and was also in the men’s Team Kata (synchronised routines) and Mixed Team for Kumite (sparring), winning his fight 2-1. Overall, the men's team lost, but the women's and mixed teams won leading to Cambridge winning Varsity for the 18th consecutive year!

He also competed for CUKC in the BUCS competition in February, reaching the Round of 16 stage for Individual Kata (routines) but unfortunately got knocked out there. In Team Kumite, he won his own fight, but the Cambridge team narrowly lost 3-2.

Lacrosse

Sacha Groom (a second-year Modern and Medieval Languages undergraduate) and Alexander Apostolides (a second-year Natural Sciences undergraduate) were selected by the Cambridge University Lacrosse Club (CULC) for its mixed first (Blues) team, who beat Oxford 10-8 on 24 February.

Meanwhile, Sheherazad Che (a third-year Natural Sciences undergraduate and CULC League Secretary) was co-captain of the University's second team (the Harriers), who won 9-4.

Powerlifting

Isaac Wong (a first-year Human, Social & Political Sciences undergraduate) achieved a 590kg total and achieved Full Blue status when Cambridge won the Varsity competition for the 11^th year in a row. 

Rowing

Alumnus Matt Edge (2018, Natural Sciences), who stayed on for a Chemistry PhD, will row at stroke for Cambridge University Boat Club (CUBC) in the 169th Men’s Boat Race on 30 March. Matt was at bow and the first man across the finish line when Cambridge won Boat Race in 2023. 

Alumna Clare Hole (2020, Natural Sciences) is back at St Catharine’s for a Population Health Sciences MPhil and will row in the 3 seat for Cambridge University Boat Club (CUBC) in the 78th Women’s Boat Race on 30 March. She is hoping to add to her wins, after she rowed in back-to-back victories for Cambridge’s reserve boat (Blondie) in 2022 and 2023.

Clare was also in the 3 seat in CUBC’s openweight women’s A crew in the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (WeHORR) on 9 March. They finished in 7th place overall and took home the University Pennant for fastest University Crew, entering the final days of Boat Race preparation with a confidence boost.

St Catharine’s has two further students rowing in the Lightweight Men’s Race on 29 March: Lewis Gray (a second-year Geography undergraduate) at stroke and Thomas Heppel (a third-year Psychological & Behavioural Sciences undergraduate) in the 7 seat. In addition, William Liu (a final-year Natural Sciences undergraduate) has been picked as a reserve for the lighweight men's boat. 

Rugby Union

Nine St Catharine’s students played for the Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club (CURUFC) in Varsity victories against Oxford:

• The women’s first team who won 10-5 on 2 March included Alice Middleton (a Population Health Sciences MPhil student), with Vianney Gomezgil Yaspik (an MBA student) and Alice Yau (a fifth-year medical student) as replacements. 
• Connor Collins (a third-year Human, Social & Political Sciences undergraduate) was selected as a replacement for the men’s first team who recorded the biggest victory in the history of the men’s Varsity Match, beating Oxford 56-11.
• The women’s second team (the Tigers) won 14-7 on 25 February and the side included Jyothi Cross (a third-year Human, Social & Political Sciences undergraduate), Lauren Hulme (a third-year Natural Sciences undergraduate) and Lucy Newton-Ingham (a second-year History undergraduate).
• The men’s second side (the LX Club) won 26-18 on 24 February with Joe Day (a second-year Land Economy undergraduate) at 11 and Johnny Daly-Lonergan (a first-year Land Economy undergraduate) starting on the bench. 

Table Tennis

Alumnus James Smith (2020, Land Economy; back for a Real Estate Finance MPhil) and Yujie Fan (an Economics MPhil student) played for the Cambridge University Table Tennis Club in the Varsity matches on 3 March. The women’s first team (with Yujie) won 8-2 and the men’s first team (with James) drew 5-5.

Touch Rugby

Tommy Ransbotyn (a final-year Natural Sciences undergraduate) was selected for the mixed and men’s first teams in the Varsity competition. The mixed team lost 6-7 to Oxford after extra time and drop-off, but the men were able to clinch a 7-6 victory.

Max Cole (a first-year Law undergraduate) played for the men’s second side in the Varsity competition, the first time that both Cambridge and Oxford chose to field second teams. Max scored a try but this sadly wasn’t enough to equalise and Cambridge lost 3-4. 

Water Polo

Our JCR President Poppy Lee (a second-year Human, Social & Political Sciences undergraduate) competed in the Varsity matches for the Cambridge University Swimming & Water Polo Club. The women’s second water polo team sadly came away with a 3-9 loss.