The 2009 Varsity Match was held on Epping Forest NW (individual) and on Great Northaw Wood (relay) over the weekend of the 25th/26th April 2009.
The men's trophy was won by Ben Stevens (Cambridge), although he didn't quite manage to dominate the course altogether and was beaten by 9 seconds by DrongO's Mark Bown. The men's team trophy was won, with a margin of 14 minutes, by Oxford (counters James McMillan, Chris Embrey, Ian Webb, Matt Lyle) in 3:42:40 compared to Cambridge's time of 3:56:32.
The women's race was much more one-sided, with the favourites Oxford having a 1 hour winning margin (Oxford 2:46:58, Cambridge 3:47:59), the 3 scorers being Liz Bridge, Ruth Holmes, and Jenn Thornton, although the remaining two Oxford runners were close behind them. The inidividual title was won by Liz Bridge, first year postgraduate student at Oxford University.
The men's B race was dominated by Cambridge, with Gerard Higgins (Cambridge) winning the overall title and the Cambridge team (Gerard Higgins, Fred Lyon, Huw Grange and Donald Evans) emerging victorious over Oxford by 30 minutes (Cambridge 2:23:31, Oxford 2:53:44).
Despite the low attendance from the ex-CUOC club, in a surprise of the weekend, DrongO managed to bring home the JOK vs DrongO trophy for the first time since 2003 (4 men and 2 women to count).
Full Results