Saturday 24th February saw us hosting Oxford in another varsity battle for the ages.
Throwing down the gauntlet early, Oxford started off the competition with a military-style team warm up led by president Phil Baker.
Cambridge president, Sean Jones, was keen for us to reciprocate the showboating by recreating Wild Child's haka-style dance to Imran Hanif's "Set Em Up", as suggested at our team-building evening the night before; however, the rest of the Cambridge team, seemingly unperturbed by Oxford's athletic display, were more interested in eating lunch and - very separately - lounging on the mats.
Surely, if pure non-chalance in the face of adversity wasn't going to intimidate our opponents, what would?
Emma Hobbs, Hannah Hussain, Jen Michail, Saskia Oakley
The reserves team was the first up, with Hannah, Saskia and Emma all jumping in their first competition.
Hannah provided a particularly impressive performance, despite having been distracted by a bag of Tangfastics kindly provided by Lucy Beg, thus not realising she had to compete two routines. Regardless, she achieved first place in her category with fellow CUTC newcomer, Jen Michail, coming in a close second.
Ginny Shooter, Louisa Sober, Maria Rust, Sean Jones (President)
C team was up next, with Ginny, Sean, Louisa and Maria all representing Cambridge.
President Sean Jones managed to bag 3rd place, and Ginny Shooter performed a beautifully neat routine, just overtaking Sean to achieve 2nd place.
Annie Slater (Social), Becky Walshe™ (VP), Eddie Bishop, Emily Bowen
B team followed on, this year consisting of Becky, Eddie, Annie and Emily making her Varsity début.
Annie Slater placed third in her category, managing to successfully compete a non-twisting front somersault, much to everyone's surprise. Eddie also managed to beat the barani plague afflicting the B team, pulling out some great routines.
Leo Jurascheck, Shannon Bernard Healey, Robyn Hamer, Rosalind Brown (Treasurer)
Our A team, comprising Shannon, Robyn, Ros and Leo, finished off the day with some very impressive routines.
Shannon, cheered on by a fan club so large it filled the entire balcony, achieved third place. Leo meanwhile, was let down by mental maths in his vol - managing to execute an unorthodox 11-move routine much to the annoyance of the judging panel. This blow seemed lightened by the arrival of pizza between his first and second routines.
Sadly, Oxford took the trophy this year. The final scores being 470.4 to Oxford and 452.2 to Cambridge.
Roulette synchro rounded off the day with random pairings between the students, judges and even a special guest appearance from Shannon's mum. Lucy Vendittelli, having been forced to watch from the sidelines all day, made her entrance sporting a very stylish leotard and tights combo.
Becky Walshe and Robyn Hamer took Roulette Gold - a minor victory at least for the Light Blues.
Congratulations to Oxford on a hard-fought victory, and thanks for a lovely social! We'll make sure to all bring a spare pair of shoes next year.