On Saturday 17th May 2008, Cambridge University Bowmen and Oxford University Company of Archers met for the 59th Annual Varsity Match. In the beautiful setting of St John's Backs the most evenly fought Varsity Match for over a decade took place.
The two teams had battled all year indoors, facing each other no less than five times in competition. The total aggregate score of each team was almost ten thousand points, but the different between them was less than twenty. On one occasion this year there was even the almost-unheard of case of a tie to be decided on tens. These were two very, very closely matched teams.
Cambridge perhaps had a slight edge indoors, but outdoors that advantage was removed - or even reversed - by Oxford's two senior ladies, shooting the Windsor rather than the more difficult Albion shot by the gents. Added to this was Oxford's determination to win the Rose Bowl for the first time in ten years, as this was the first time since 1997 that they have been able to field a team able to match the might of Cambridge.
The match proved to be every bit as close as had been anticipated. Oxford put in an excellent score of 3394 (Angelina Measures, Ellen Davnall, David Longworth & Sam Johnson), but it was Cambridge who emerged victorious with a spectacular set of scores. Scoring over 100 points better than the combined total of their previous personal best scores, the team put in a heroic performance on the day it really mattered to secure an eleventh consecutive win with a total score of 3411 (Robert Fryers, Sam Burnand, Carrie Oliver & Philip Sterne), just seventeen points ahead of Oxford and only twelve points off the all-time Varsity record shot in 2000.
The Cambridge novice team (Edmund Owen, Dave Hollingshead, Emma Pewsey & Alex Peters) continued their dominance with a crushing victory of more than 250 points over the Oxford novices to set a new club record of 2654. Of particular note was Edmunds score of 747, which is the highest score for a Cambridge novice in ten years, and in years gone by would have put him in contention to win his half blue, no mean achievement for someone who only picked up a bow for the first time in October last year.
Special mention should also be made of the performances by Tim Craig (775) and Callum Young (548) who doggedly chased spots on the senior and novice teams respectively and who both shot superbly.
I would like to thank everybody who helped to organise and run the event. All the members of the committee, our stewards on the day, Ewan Shawcroft, Maciek Hermanowicz and Diana Wood, and our chief adder-upper Ian Caulfield.
Best wishes and good shooting,
Robert Fryers
Captain 2007-2008, Cambridge University Bowmen