Oxford take the spoils for the second year in a row
Continuing on from their impressive clean sweep last year, Oxford took the win in both Blues races again at Wimbledon Common on Saturday 6th December.
With the weekend focused around celebrating the 50th anniversary of women’s cross-country at the universities there was a larger than usual turn out in
the Old Blues’ Race. As the first race of the day, they tested out the new watersplash after the old one had become inaccessible over the summer. Oxford secured victory in the 33rd Old Blues’ Race, winning by 550 points to 832 (scoring 26-a-side). Peter Molloy (Trinity, Cambridge) took the individual honours in 21:20 with Phoebe Barker (Robinson, Cambridge) crossing the line as first woman in eighth (which is the highest finishing position by a female runner in the history of the series). Oxford now lead this series by 19 wins to 14.
In the 134th Gentlemen’s Race, Oxford, despite losing the first three home from their exceptionally strong 2024 team, dominated the front end of the race with another 1-2-3. Christopher Parker (Corpus Christi) became the first undergraduate to win the race since 2016, out sprinting fellow Oxford team-mate Alexander Gruen (Keble), in a time of 38:56. Rounding out the top three was five-time Full Blue Thomas Wood (St. Anne’s). Although Cambridge packed the next three home Oxford’s strength and depth proved too much as they had all eight runners across the line before Cambridge’s final scorer (sixth man). This sealed a 33 to 47 victory for Oxford in an eight-a-side, six-to-score format. After over a century of racing this Oxford victory leaves the series finely poised at 67 wins each.
With the passing of a generation of Oxbridge runners and none of last year’s top seven competing this year, it was difficult to identify a clear favourite for the team honours in the 49th Ladies’ Race. Oxford were also without Rebecca Flaherty (St. Catherine’s) due to her call up to the GB squad for next weekend’s European Championships. In a similar fashion to the Gentlemen’s race, Oxford dominated the front of the race with five of the first seven finishers. Hanna Adrejczuk (Lincoln) took the individual win in a time of 24:09 to lead Oxford to victory 32 to 46. Beth Rogers (Cambridge), unfortunately, was injured on the descent to Queensmere two kilometres from the end and was unable to finish the race. Oxford have now won the past three contests and lead the series 29 wins to 20.
Full results can be found here.
