Chris Brasher college league and college cuppers

The Chris Brasher College League consists of 5 races during the Michaelmas and Lent terms. The first event is the Freshers' Fun Run, scheduled for the first Sunday of Michaelmas term. This is followed by a proper cross-country race on Grantchester Meadows, in late October. Cuppers takes place in mid-November at Wandlebury. This is a stand-alone college championship race and most years does not count as part of the College League. It is also the main selection race for the Varsity Match teams. In the Lent term there are three more races: the Coe Fen Relays near the city centre, the new Fen Ditton run and the Selwyn Relays which will determine this season's top colleges.

In the 2004-05 season, the College League was renamed after Chris Brasher, one of the greatest athletes ever to run for Cambridge. Chris studied at St John's College and went on to win gold in the steeplechase at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. He sadly died on February 28th 2003, but having also founded the London Marathon, his legacy will always remain. Read more about Chris Brasher here.

Anyone (staff, students, fellows) can run for their College team - the more runners that turn out, the better your College will do and there are prizes for the most successful Colleges in the league at the end of the season. If you are interested in running for your College, most have a rep who organises their teams who you can contact from the college reps page. If not, get in touch with the league organisers Aidan Brown (ab493@cam.ac.uk) or Chris Morris (cjm83@cam.ac.uk). The rules can be found here.

Last year (2005-2006) Trinity were the clear winners in the women's division having won maximum points in each league race. Queens', last years winner, came in second place overall, and were also second to Trinity in each of the five scoring races. In the men's first division, Jesus took a lead over Queens' from the 3rd league race, maintaining their lead till the end. In the men's second division, Sidney took the top spot, and therefore moved up to division I with Cauis and Peterhouse, demoting Selwyn, Wolfson and Pembroke.

The year before, (2004-2005) Queens' completed a double winning both mens and womens leagues. The women just overcame Caius winning by one point. Meanwhile the top two places in the mens 1st division were unchanged from the previous year, being taken by Queens and Girton. Catz secured the second division title and so return to the top flight along with Robinson and Wolfson.