Ospreys Newsletter Lent 2012 - Cambridge University Sport

Lent 2012
Newsletter
In this issue
President’s Report
King of the Slopes
Ospreys’ charms
Swimming Report
Ultimate Frisbee
Ex-Osprey President
Journey of a Lifetime
Bursary Awards 2012
Women’s Boat race
Freshfields Dinner
Lacrosse
Dates for your diaries
Committee Members
2011-2012
President: Anna Harrison
Vice-President: Georgia
Sherman
Secretary: Ellie Spelman
Treasurer: Alex Addison-
Scott
Kit: Vicky Evans
Events: Isy Foster, Alice
Bush, Tamsin Owen,
General Officers: Tory
Brown, Parisah Seyed-Safi
Newsletter Officer: Jane
Thomas

Dear Ospreys,
Welcome to the Lent 2012 edition of the Ospreys’ Newsletter. We’ve had another action
packed term for female sport in Cambridge, both on and off the pitch. Many sports have
been busy with their Varsities including Netball, Hockey, Korfball, Lacrosse, Football and
Rugby, with some fantastic results amongst them. You will find out more about some of
them in pages to come.
This term Ospreys co-hosted our first Captain’s and President’s dinner with the
Women’s Blues Committee, with the intention of bringing different sports together to find
out more about other female sports in Cambridge. We had 22 sports represented and it
proved to be a great success. We also hosted the 2nd Speaker’s Dinner at The Varsity Hotel
kindly sponsored by Freshfields, where Annie Vernon, a Cambridge Alumni and Olympic
Rower, spoke about her rowing experiences thus far, in particular as a female athlete with
an emphasis on increasing the profile of female sport.
On the topic of raising awareness of female sport, recent developments have
included the announcement that as of 2015 the Women’s Boat Race will be moved to the
Tideway on the same day and course as the men’s Boat Race – a huge step forward for
female sport in Cambridge. We would also like to congratulate Stacie Powell, a current
Osprey who spoke at the Alumni Dinner in London in December, who has recently been
crowned national 10m diving champion at the British Gas National Diving Cup 2012.
It is also with great excitement that I can announce that the first phase of the
long awaited sports centre is being started on 1 May – this should make a huge different
to sports clubs in years to come.
I would like to thank our sponsors for their continued support, in particular this
term Accenture who hosted a very successful drinks event for members. It is also thanks
to our sponsors that we have been able to allocate £3,500 worth of bursaries to our
members. With over 40 applications it was one of our most competitive years, so
congratulations to all those of you that received them.
Finally congratulations to all those of you who have participated in Varsity
matches this term; don’t forget to let your teammates know about joining Ospreys if they
haven’t already!
GDBO
Anna Harrison
Ospreys’ President 2011-12

Cambridge are King of the Slopes
This year’s Varsity skiing saw Cambridge
swoop in and dominate the slopes. It was
double delight for both the men’s and
women’s Blues teams as they secured victory
over the Old Enemy in the Alps.
JP Espinosa and Sarah Hughes were the
stand out performers for the Light Blues,
each taking home individual crowns.
Cambridge sent a very competitive
women’s blues team. The battle was on
before the final team was even selected,
meaning that the Light Blues were confident
they would win. Incredible performances
The women glide to victory

from second year Sarah Hughes saw her ranked
eighth against the men overall, whilst
Catherine Pelton – previous GS champion –
achieved predictably great times. With good
times from the remaining members (Sam
Davies, Frances Brill, Jos Trayler-Clarke and
Larissa Normanton), the team obliterated
Oxford.
Whilst the seconds teams both lost to their
Oxford contemporaries, the men’s thirds –
featuring ex blues Jamie Salter and old freestyle
captain Josh Brookes – showed flair and skill,
securing a safe victory for them.
The Varsity match this year saw strong
competition between old rivals. Oxford put up
strong teams, featuring ex GB Jamie Reid and
female captain Kirsty Dixon, but the week was
ultimately Cambridge’s, and so was the
champagne.
Champagne on ice
Ospreys’ charms
Scarlett, the Brighton
based jewellery
designer has been
selected to produce our Osprey in
sterling silver. Scarlett creates designer
jewellery from their Brighton workshop,
and has a fabulous range we think
you’ll like. The new Osprey charm will
be ready later this Spring so be
amongst the first to order. Wear your
Osprey on a charm bracelet, maybe a
Links Sweetie bracelet or it’ll make a
unique charm necklace.
Scarlett's wide range of silver and
gold charms make collecting charms
an adventure! They make over 80
charms so check out the website:
www.scarlettjewellery.com
Scarlett creates designer silver & gold
jewellery from their Brighton workshop.
Trading for 12 years, they are a small
business who
genuinely care.
Beautifully
made silver &
gold jewellery
and excellent
customer
service are the
hallmarks of
the company.

Varsity Swimming Report 2012 (Ladies)
There was a strong start to the match with Henrietta Dillon (ladies’ captain) and Katherine
Pickard taking first and second place in the 200 Individual Medley, both gaining the blues
times in that event. Oxford, however, soon took the lead, despite great performances from
Heather Moore in the 100 backstroke and Chloe Spiby-Loh in the 200 freestyle.
In the 100 butterfly, ladies’ captain Henrietta Dillon beat last year’s winning time by over a
second, however had to settle for second place behind Oxford’s Justine Schluntz. In the
second round of individual events Oxford showed their strength and depth by taking first
place in every event, although Katherine Pickard in the 400 freestyle and Georgia Sherman in
the 100 breaststroke made sure that it was not an easy fight for them. The 100 freestyle was
an extremely close race, with great swims from both newcomer Lydia Woodward and Chloe
Spiby-Loh (who narrowly missed the blues qualification time), however a late push from
Oxford saw Lydia and Chloe pipped to the post. Heading into the relays the ladies knew the
scores were against them but still pulled out some incredible swims, with the time from the 4
x 50 freestyle relay team being the fourth fastest ever recorded. However, it just wasn’t
enough to defeat the Dark Blues and eventually Cambridge conceded defeat.

Ultimate Frisbee Women’s Varsity
25 February 2012
Oxford may have had the home turf
advantage but on this particular gloriously
sunny February day, it was all about the
Cambridge ladies. The day started with an
intense indoors game. We had a huge
number of spectators and with the boys
judging our every move the pressure was
certainly on. In such a quick fire and rapidly
moving game our nerves were running high,
especially after our first score was swiftly
equalized by Oxford to bring us level. The
next point was vital, and excruciatingly long.
Both teams were sprinting hard and not
gaining much ground. A couple of unlucky
drops kept Oxford in the running before a
well aimed pass and some good footwork
gave Cambridge the point and the lead. Still
far from comfortable the Cambridge girls
began to get into their rhythm and showed
An Ex-Osprey President’s Journey of a
Lifetime
On January 27th I was celebrating a new pb
of five twenty for my most recent challenge.
That would be five months and twenty days
for my fourteen and a half thousand km
journey from Beijing to London by bicycle.
The planning stage was limited by the
inconvenience of finishing my degree but
one wise decision not to ride through the
middle east was confirmed. I left Beijing with
how they had been Regional champions two
weeks before. They slowly edged into the
lead and refused to let Oxford score another
point, ending the game 6-1 at the buzzer. By
the time it came to play our outdoors game
the Cambridge girls had evidently picked up
the pace and the lightly complicating wind
was not enough to slow them down. They
played calm (but deadly effective offense)
and massive defense. People knew their
roles, and played them magnificently. A
combination of zone and man defense
completely shut Oxford down and
Cambridge hit the score-cap before Oxford
managed a single point. Our handlers were
calm and competent, our cutters rapid and
reliable and our deeps pretty unstoppable. A
truly remarkable score and fantastic victory.
Well done girls!
Indoors: Cambridge 6 - 1 Oxford
Outdoors: Cambridge 13 - 0 Oxford
my £180 Chinese bike and the route as China
to Singapore, across Australia and Turkey to
the UK.
The learning curve was steep, crossing
countries that do not have a roman alphabet
makes for a hard life without a bilingual map.
China is also not the most foreigner friendly
country and most of the first couple of
weeks were spent trying to avoid being
taken back to our starting point by the police
(happened twice). Once we'd learnt the rules

of the game we tried to finish out rides in
foreigner illegal towns with the likelihood of
a free police taxi in the onward direction;
sadly the police never played with these
rules and we were forced to ride all the way.
We shook the police off in the mountains,
when it dawned on me during the second
mountain 'stage' having already climbed the
day’s first 2000m mountain that was I was
trying I do was genuinely insane. Everyday
for the next week was at least 1000m more
climbing than the hardest stage of the tour
de France, without support, racing bikes and
carrying 20kg bags.
A harsh labouring of the point that the
shortest route is not always the quickest.
Later it was drilled that the shortest route
is not always the safest. Despite all of the
warnings I'd received about crossing into
Malaysia on the easy side of Thailand (3000
people have died here in random attacks
from the thai mafia since 2008) I decided to
risk it. Figuring that it was still open so it was
physically possible to cross, left me with a
birthday present of pure terror, struggling to
identify governmental from mafiosi tanks
and troops.
Accommodation was heavily reliant on
tents, preferably not to be erected in fields of
either bulls or thorns. My tent was later
stolen in an Australian 'locality' (petrol station
in the desert). Sleeping under the stars whilst
hoping for the best case scenario of
mosquito bites over spiders or snakes (of
which all of the most deadly are kindly
housed by Australia), was another slightly
stressful evening.
When I finally arrived in Europe it was
time for the last push, little did I know it was
the first of many. Apparently trying to ride
across Europe at the time of year that
everyone else comes to ski doesn't make
premium cycling conditions. Serious
loneliness began to kick in to the point that I
felt I couldn't go on. Lured with paid flights
home from my dad the temptation was
certainly there. Physically I knew I could ride
home, mentally I had no idea how it could
happen. Having neither the strength to go
on nor the courage to quit it was catch-22.
Eventually I managed to crawl my way across
France getting out of bed every morning
only because of the encouraging messages
of people supporting me back home.
Riding through the UK was a complete
dream, it was less than five degrees and
listening to the more classified ends of
vocabulary from the BMW driving population
of the south downs reserved for
inconvenient road sharing occasions. But I
had company and I was nearly finished!!
The finishing posts made themselves clear
as I rode towards the Greenwich meridian
line. Two chinese students (self named) King
and Harry who I taught in Beijing
immediately before departing happened to

have been on a school trip, to London, the
Greenwich meridian line, at three pm! The
coincidence is just earth shattering.
Since finishing I have been asked how I
have been changed by the trip; sadly I don't
think that I have changed at all, my
appreciation of public transport has
appreciated as has my fear of birds. My
geographical knowledge has improved - I
can confirm that Australia is a large country
and that Beijing is a long way away. Also my
perception of risk has normalised; with 14000
more km under my belt and 0
hospitalisations. If you would like to read
more about my trip or donate to my charity
(Dlraa) more information can be found at
www.fuzzytravel.com/charliroach
At the finish line!
Ospreys Bursary Awards 2012
Due to the generous support of our
sponsors, this year we have been able to
award nearly £3,500 worth of Ospreys’
bursaries to members in recognition of high
achievement and for their contribution to
sport at Cambridge. We have awarded three
categories of award: ‘International
Recognition’, ‘Outstanding Achievement’ and
‘Contribution to Cambridge Sport’. Amongst
a pool of over 40 applicants, we are
delighted to announce the following awards:
International:
Alana Livesy - Lacrosse
Ellie Walshe - Lacrosse
Izzy Edmundson - Riding
Lucy Gossage - Iron Man Triathlon
Outstanding achievement:
Emma Byatt - Fencing, Modern Pentathlon
Izzie Boana Evans - Rowing
Polly Keen - Track (Steeplechase)
Sarah Hughes - Skiing, Sailing
Contribution to Cambridge Sport:
Ellie Spelman - Modern Pentathlon
Fay Sandford - Rowing
Fran Knight - Rowing
Georgie Sherman - Swimming
Hayley Simmonds - Cycling
Heather Reynolds - Archery
Henrietta Dillon - Swimming
Josie Faulkner - Waterpolo, Triathlon
Tamsin Owen - Waterpolo

Women’s Boat race
It has been a successful and exciting year for
Cambridge University Women's Boat Club
(CUWBC) so far, we have fielded one of the
strongest, most powerful squads in recent
years, producing very good results in all races
we have entered both on and off the Cam, as
well as winning the Women's Blue Boat Race
and claiming back the Francombe Cup (the
Victor Ludorum for the Henley Boat Races)
after 11 years in dark blue hands, and this is
all before our crews have had a chance to
compete at BUCs and Henley, which promise
to keep showing the strength and speed of
CUWBC.
However, it was in amongst all this racing
and winning that an announcement was
made that will change CUWBC for the future.
As of next year CUWBC become equal to the
Cambridge University men's squad on a
sponsorship level, and this is to prepare for
the Women's Blue Boat Race moving to the
tideway, on the same course as the men in
2015. This is a huge change not only for two
of the oldest universities in the country who
are steeped in tradition but also for women's
rowing up and down the country. This
announcement signifies a huge challenge for
CUWBC, to push our club onto the next level
to provide crews to race a course which is far
longer than our current 2km course down at
Henley-on-Thames, on a river known for its
tide and strong currents a test for both
rowers and their cox. However, it is a
challenge I have no doubt CUWBC will rise
to. As a club we are always wanting to be the
best we can be and take university rowing to
the highest level, now we have the
opportunity to show the country (and with
the BBC coverage - the world) that the
women of Cambridge can produce crews of
a high calibre to race in what is one of the
countries oldest amateur sporting traditions,
and we will so watch this space.

Freshfields Dinner
After the success
of last term's
speakers dinner,
Freshfields kindly
sponsored a
repeat event, held
at the Varsity
Hotel on Tuesday
13 March.
Ospreys from a
wide variety of sports attended, with places
filling up in an unprecedented hour and a
half following their release! The evening was
a great success and there was a fantastic
buzz to the room from the moment it began.
The dinner in itself was something to
be greatly desired: the Varsity Hotel's
signature steak and a devilish chocolate pot
to finish. For those able to avoid the
temptation of breaking their Lent ... a lesschocolatey
yet equally delectable dessert
was available!
Annie Vernon,
ex-Cambridge boat
club member who
won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics,
and currently is training for London 2012,
later gave a humorous yet inspiring speech
about the importance of high-level sport not
only in her own life but for women in society
as a whole. She spoke about how women
must fight for equality in sport by changing
the stereotypes that have been socially
embedded over time.
A huge thank you must be given to
Freshfields for allowing such a popular and
successful event to go ahead. The
committee look forward to seeing as many
of you possible at our next event, the
committee AGM and society drinks, on
Saturday 5th May at the Varsity Hotel. Please
do encourage any prospective members
from your respective sports to join us as it is
sure to be a fantastic evening.
Lacrosse
The Women’s Lacrosse Blues have had an immaculate season this year and have finished the
year undefeated, a feat rarely achieved by any university sports team. On 25 February both
the Blues and the 2nds travelled to Oxford for the 100th Lacrosse Varsity Match. With the
Womens 2nds, Mixed and Men’s Blues all having lost that morning, it was down to the
Women’s blues to regain some light blue respect and that they did. After a notoriously shaky
start from the light blues, after 10 minutes, Cambridge started to dominate and continued to
do so for the duration of the match. With a score of 6-2 at half time, momentum was with

Cambridge and it stayed that way as we went into the second half. With the help of several
yellow cards from some frustrated Oxford players, Cambridge continued to dominate
throughout the second half and finished with a very impressive score of 12-6.
After the Varsity victory, it was back to the drawing board in preparation for the BUCS
National finals against Birmingham. Having been in the finals for the last 2 years and lost
both, we were ready to make it third time lucky and that we did. Cambridge capitalised on a
shaky start from Birmingham and went up 4-1 in the first ten minutes. As expected,
Birmingham fought back and several of their international players dominated with long runs
from the midfield all the way to the goal. At half time the score was 5-4 Cambridge and so
was still very much anyones game. After half time Cambridge had a sleepy 5 minutes and
Birmingham snuck ahead 7-5. This was followed by some extremely well constructed
attacking moves by Cambridge combined with an inpenetrable defence, which made the
score 9-9 with 2 minutes to go. In the last 40 seconds of the match, England International
Laura Plant scored for Cambridge putting the light blues in front by one. We then kept
possession for the last 30 seconds and when the final whistle went we knew it was victory for
Cambridge and after 3 years we could finally
call ourselves BUCS Lacrosse National
Champions.
Not many teams can finish a season
saying that they are Varsity Champions, BUCS
National Champions, League Winners and
undefeated all season – good work CUWLC on
an excellent season. Bring on 2013!
Alice Bush
CUWLC President 2011-12
Thank you to all of you who have submitted material for this term’s publication. We are sorry
if space restraints have meant we have not been able to publish your article.
Interested in joining the Ospreys? Please visit www.ospreys-cambridge.com for more
details.
If your team has more to report that hasn’t been included in this terms newsletter, then
please contact jvt26@cam.ac.UK with all of your details, and we will endeavour to
include it in next term’s publication.

Dates for your diaries – Easter Term 2012
Evening Friday 4 May – Alumnae drinks event, UWC, London
7.00pm Saturday 5 June – Junior’s drinks event, awards ceremony and AGM at Varsity Hotel
Please email ospreysevents@gmail.com to reserve your space
Evening Thursday 14 June – Ospreys’ May Week Drinks, Varsity Hotel roof top bar
Ospreys’ President Sponsors Information:
Citi is a leading global financial services company with over 200 million customers, operating in
more than 140 countries. Change and opportunity are integral to Citi, reflecting Citi’s commitment
to hiring exceptional individuals. Citi is driven by a desire for entrepreneurship and creativity, helping
to shape the future of banking. This is combined with a commitment to responsible growth that
benefits clients, colleagues and communities alike. Full-time and internship opportunities are
available in Investment Banking, Capital Markets Origination, Sales & Trading, Global Transaction
Services, Private Bank, Risk Management, Human Resources, Operations and Technology.
J.P. Morgan is a leading global financial services company operating in more than 100 countries. J.P.
Morgan prides itself on an inclusive work environment promoting better business performance and
personal development as well as a culture of openness and meritocracy. Internship and graduate
opportunities are available in Asset Management, Finance, IB Risk, Investment Banking, Operations &
Business Services, Private Bank, Sales, Trading & Research and Technology.
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company.
Working with Accenture means working on complex projects with big-name clients. When you join,
you will be aligned to Technology or Management Consulting. It’s an amazing opportunity to work
at the very heart of the world’s leading companies, turning innovation and strategy into something
to make a real difference. Discover how great you can be.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is one of the world’s largest financial institutions, serving individual
consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking,
investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. Bank
of America has offices throughout Europe and CEEMEA. Bank of America combines the best of local
knowledge and international expertise. We offer full-time, internship and fixed-term placement
programmes across a number of business areas.
Design production: www.cambridgedesigners.co.UK
Committee 2011-2012
President: Anna Harrison (ah600), Vice-President: Georgia Sherman (glfs2), Secretary: Ellie Spelman (es488), Treasurer: Alex
Addison-Scott (aka35), Kit: Vicky Evans (ve212), Events: Isy Foster (kf22), Alice Bush (ab909), Tamsin Owen (co310), General
Officers: Tory Brown (vb289), Parisah Seyed-Safi (pks36), Newsletter Officer: Jane Thomas (jvt26)