On February 3rd, CUTC welcomed over 300 competitors to the University Sports Centre for our annual Open competition and the third SUTL event of the season.
Thanks to the amazing help offered by so many of you the night before, the hall looked incredible, with even the competition beds bathed in stylish uplighting as the competitors prepared for the first warm-ups of the day.
The following hours would see around 80 routines competed by CUTC alone, resulting in 5 individual medals, 2 podium positions in synchro and for the first time this season, a medal for Cambridge in the SUTL team event!
To detail everyone's achievements would probably require a sizeable dossier so I'll just focus on some of the day's highlights and include our full results and some videos below.
Having overcome the bitter disappointment of his defeat in Bath two months prior, Sean 'president-extrordinaire' Jones took to Panel 1 to successfully wrestle back his characteristic SUTL 5 Gold from returning alumnus Joe 'graciously-entered-S4' Jukes.
On the other 3 panels, CUTC's synchro prowess (both impromptu and otherwise) was clearly demonstrated by all ... except, perhaps, by a certain Elder-Vass/Butterworth pairing that just about managed to demonstrate straight jumping. (Seriously though guys, you got full HD marks for those 2 skills you did, congrats! ;) )
In the higher synchro category, Ryan 'had-a-headache' Hadlow withdrew from the competition claiming to be too ill, leaving Alice 'doesn't-even-go-here' Feazey-Noble without a partner. Alice swiftly remedied the situation by forming an alliance with Philip 'doesn't-even-go-here-either' Baker - the resulting Cambridge (UEA/Oxford) dream team jumped well, opting to compete conflicting routines for the 'aesthetic'.
SS2 saw 4 Cambridge pairs compete, with 3 of them finishing in the top half of the group. Louise 'whistles-in-F#' Overall & Rachel 'will-fight-you' Sweet finished two impressive routines with little practice, claiming 6th, whilst Annie 'i'm-with-her->' Slater & Lucy '<-i'm-with-her' Vendittelli took 9th. A multitude of errors from the judging panel has left the actual fate of Eddie 'did-a-pike' Bishop and Becky 'did-a-tuck' Walshe's performance in a state of uncertainty and the calculation of their actual position is left as an exercise to the reader.
SS3 was absolutely stormed by CUTC, with newcomers Ginny 'perfect-form' Shooter and Emily 'cymru-am-byth' Bowen taking Gold and securing the maximum points for Cambridge in the League event! Just 1.2 behind in the Silver medal position were Sean and Hannah 'jeez-rick' Brown who scored perfect 10s for synchronicity in their second routine!
Starting to regret the nicknames thing at this point ...
Recent alumnus James 'hadn't-jumped-in-6-months' D'Rozario laid down some great routines in the SUTL 6 category, placing 4th and missing the podium by just 0.3! Martin 'did-i-mention-crypto' Chan also finished both his routines well for a respectable 10th place in this busy category.
Meanwhile, in the Women's SUTL 2 and 3 events, the scores required to take home any silverware sat firmly nestled in the Blues criteria and sadly just out of reach for our entrants.
As ever, the halftime show was fantastic, with multiple performances from both the CUTAZZ dance society and the Cambridge Cougars cheer squad. Each routine was obviously well-rehearsed and brilliantly executed. Huge thanks go to both societies for supporting our event!
Starting the post-lunch bouncing on a high, Ginny competed her individual routines in SUTL 6 to place first! But would the score hold? There were an agonising 3 flights still to compete! As the wait began, Ginny's efforts were mirrored on the far panel by Emily in SUTL 5 who placed in second, also with 3 flights yet to jump!
In SUTL 2, Shannon 'what-is-a-burrito?' Bernard Healey laid down the highest DD of the group and secured the Silver medal, missing Gold by a mere 0.185.
Continuing the category and styling out an impressive S2 début, Leo 'strong-and-stable-routine-construction' Jurascheck placed not just 5th (after accounting for panel errors), but also above Phil! *cough* GDBO.
The last flights of the day saw on-hiatus CUTC member Gerald 'finally-competing-elite' Elder-Vass nail his voluntary doubles, finishing fourth.
Cambridge guest, Glyn 'kept-gerald-out-of-the-spotlight' Dickson pipped Gerald to the podium by 1.555.
Finally, with the conclusion of the Women's SUTL 5 and 6 categories it became clear that both Emily and Ginny had managed to hold their positions, claiming Silver and Gold medals respectively! Not only that, but their execution totals, along with Glyn's, formed a Cambridge Team score that put us in second place between the traditional SUTL overachievers Southampton (1st) and Portsmouth (3rd).
I just want to say a massive well done to everyone who competed at Cambridge this year! Especially if it was your first competition. I'm sorry I couldn't mention you all above and for how my embarrassing level of wit took an abrupt nose-dive after about 5 lines.
I hope you enjoyed the day and I look forward to seeing so many of us enter again next year!