Varsity Canoe Polo and Marathon 2018
There had been plenty of faff in the lead up to Varsity this year: a tree fell down two days before the event and blocked the marathon course, our polo goals were suffering from a collection of ailments, the most critical being the tendency of one of them to sink, and Cambridge were short of a few ladies to compete at the marathon. But Andy and Jon made short work of the blockage, Andy and Jen scaled trees make a suspended polo goal, and Inese stepped in to complete the ladies team. Bring it on Oxford- Cambridge was ready!
First were the polo matches, starting with the ladies. The Cambridge team had not long competed together at BUCS, although were missing their captain, Tamsin. The match started well with one goal by Helen, two goals by Jen and some solid support, passing and defence by Laura, Rachel and goalie Gabby. The second half saw another goal for Jen, set up by Gabby, and Rachel scored the final goal to make it 5-0 to Cambridge. Handshakes, handrolls and one little swim followed (Helen must have needed to cool off) before it was over to the men.
The Cambridge men’s team was a mix of the BUCS old boys’ team (Matt L, Roy, Chris H, Chris S) plus Shahid and Matt M. Again, Cambridge dominated throughout. Matt L won the sprint and scored the first goal of the match soon after, the second goal went to Chris H and the third to Matt M in his first polo match! Chris S was solid as ever in defence, joined by Roy. End result was a convincing 3-0 to Cambridge.
The marathon race involved a 6km course from the Cambridge Canoe Club to Grantchester and back. For the first time in many years there were three Div 1 marathoners competing so it was set to be an impressive race. Sam was narrowly beaten to the top spot so took second for Cambridge with a time of 25:19, followed by Joe at 27:59 and in 5th was Kai at 29:58. Livvy secured second out of the ladies (6th overall) with 30:54 having already sprinted from the boat club to get to the start of the race, while Jen and Inese placed 5th and 6thin the ladies. Overall this meant Cambridge took the win for the men’s and Oxford won the ladies.
Thanks to all the competitors, organisers and tree-removers for a great Varsity! Lots of photos from polo matches can be found on the facebook page.
Teams and Results:
Ladies Polo: 5-0 Cambridge win
Helen Inzani, Jen McGaley, Gabby Montejo Kovacevich, Rachel Fellows, Laura Kruszewski
Men’s Polo: 3-0 Cambridge win
Matt Linley, Matt Maltby, Chris Hedges, Chris Scheulen, Shahid Wahab, Roy Spliet
Ladies Marathon: Oxford win
Livvy Rowe, Jen McGaley, Inese Silkina
Men’s Marathon: Cambridge win
Sam Plummer, Joe Hansell, Kai Wohlfahrt