My Journey to Ithaca: Varsity

It might sound ridiculous but the truth is, that sport in Cambridge exists to beat Oxford. A year is measured by nothing more, nothing less. That is all; all that really matters is beating the old enemy in the annual Varsity Match.

Most sports fans in the UK will have heard of the Varsity Rugby match at Twickenham, the Varsity Boat Race (to give it its full title) on the Thames at Easter and even perhaps the Varsity Cricket match, held each summer at Lords, however it is possible that they do not realise that every sport has its day and its Varsity match, including Hang-Gliding. For most sports that all-important match takes place during the traditional 'Varsity Games' period mid-February and fencing is no different. Last Saturday the Exams Schools on the New Museum Site Cambridge played host to the 104th Fencing Varsity Match.

In the run up the competitors eat Varsity, drink Varsity, sleep Varsity and live Varsity. There is endless head-scratching, conversations about team selection, team order, tactics, targets, and permutations. The preparation for the following year's Varsity Match starts the day after the next one. How many sporting teams and captains are defined by their success in one match? The victors live on in perpetuity, their names as victors inscribed upon the Varsity shield since 1936; for the losers, nothing but forgotten.

I only won the Varsity match once, when I was captain in 2009, by a record score in an undefeated season. In both 2007 and 2010 we lost only one match all year, including in all the BUCS fixtures; we were recognised as the best team in the country, winning Southern Premiership and the BUCS Championship and yet we lost the Varsity match against all odds and the seasons were thus deemed a failure. In 2008 under Alex O'Connell's captaincy we came so close it hurt, in a match we should never have been in; I still remember the bitter and harsh taste of defeat that day. The pressure is immense; the rewards eternal; the day, beautiful.

This year the match was always going to be close, with Cambridge coming out as victors in their previous league match by just the one hit. Sadly on the day the greater experience of the Oxford team shone through, particularly in their sabre team. After a nervous and enthralling epee match, which in the end Cambridge edged 45-43, Oxford acheived a convincing 45-21 win in the sabre. The Cambridge sabreurs came back strong in the end after being in a potentially lethal position at 30-8 but spectators were left rueing that a fine performance came too late. That aside Cambridge had a much stronger foil team and confidence was still high, but the pressure was huge as Cambridge had to limit their opponents to 23, ultimately a task too great. But the Cambridge boys can take comfort in the knowledge that while most of the Oxford team of Varsity veterans are likely to depart, the Cambridge team will be almost entirely unchanged, more experienced and hungry for revenge next year. Supporting was strange but I am already looking forward to next year and travelling to Oxford to beat them there. GDBO.