2008-09 Archive

Edition 58 (6th July 2009)

 

Sarah Cowburn (Collingwood) led the Durham successes at Henley as she rowed in the winning Quad in the Princess Grace cup. Sarah becomes the first female student from Durham to have won a women’s event at the main Henley event.

 

Will Fletcher, one of our two apprentices, won the Prince of Wales cup in a quad whilst our other apprentice finished second in the Ladies Plate.

 

The men’s eight went out in the last eight as did the only other surviving British University Oxford Brookes.

 

Former students James Clark and Alice freeman won gold medals in the respective open men’s and women’s eights.

Edition 57 (24th June 2009)

 

Team Durham played their last home game for 2009 and it is fitting that the year should end on a high. Our cricket 3rd team, having defeated Newcastle 1st team in the semi-final, should have found Liverpool an easier proposition.

 

Durham reduced the opposition to 34 for 6 before facing a total of 148 to win. A strong opposition bowling attack meant wickets fell fairly regularly but the Conference Cup was finally secured with five wickets remaining and 11 overs to spare.

Edition 56 (21st June 2009)

 

Pride of place amongst a number of outstanding performances goes to 1st year Sarah Cowburn who represented GB in the women’s quad at the World Cup and came home with a silver medal – a remarkable result.

In a slightly disappointing World Cup overall former student Sophie Hoskins won GB’s only gold in the light weight women’s double – a first gold ever at this event for GB.  Former student, James Clarke, stroked the GB eight to bronze.

Closer to home two Durham crews made it to the semi-finals at Women’s Henley with two further crews making it to the final. Emily Taylor won silver in the single sculls losing out to an athlete from the USA.  Our intermediate four kept up the Durham winning streak at Women’s Henley by winning Gold in the Intermediate fours event.

The men, warming up for Henley at Marlow, won gold in the light weight men’s coxless four,  and silver in the coxed four . Our crew containing our sporting giants also won silver medals.

Congratulations to our men’s cricket 3rd team who defeated Newcastle 1st X1 to get to the final of the conference cup. Regrettably our women went out in the semi-finals of the cricket losing at Cambridge by five runs.

Finally, congratulations to the Team Durham staff of ten – eight climbers and two drivers who took on the three peak challenge over the weekend. They made it in 23 hours and 35 minutes and raised over £2,000 for Sport in Action Zambia. A piece of advice for anyone thinking of taking on the challenge either climbing or driving - DON’T BOTHER IT IS A NIGHTMARE!!

Edition 55 (11th June, 2009)

 

Our women’s cricket team played their most important game of the season against Oxford yesterday. A win would secure them a place in the semi-final of the national trophy but more importantly would guarantee them a place in the premiership next year. We have never been relegated from the premiership.

Durham scored an excellent 174 for 4 off their 30 overs. Oxford moved to 74 for 1 off 8 overs before Durham removed their England Development players with Oxford eventually falling 30 runs short of their target. We play Cambridge away next Wednesday.

In the first day of the County game Warwickshire has struggled throughout against the University and are 91 for 5 off 40 overs at tea.

The 3rds bowled Newcastle 2nds out for 101 and scraped into the semi-final of the Plate reaching 102 for 8.

Thanks to all those who supported the College Festival – great to see you at Maiden Castle. 3000 students took part in 1,700 fixtures involving 320 teams – results to follow.

  

  

Edition 54 (4th June 2009)

  

 I am absolutely delighted to inform everyone that, after seven years in the wilderness, former student James Foster has again been selected for England in the twenty20 cricket. His first two performances have shown, what everyone has known for a long time, he is the best glove man in England.

Ollie Phillips played for Durham in the BUSA winning team at Twickenham in 2004. He has captained the England rugby sevens side this year and has just been voted the ‘International Rugby Boards’ player of the year.

Our men’s cricket 3rds defeated Newcastle 2nds yesterday to move into the last eight of the Conference Cup.

  

  

Edition 53 (3rd June 2009)

It comes to something when I am reporting on women’s soccer and women’s cricket at the same time in June. Our women’s soccer first team thought they had escaped relegation with a win in the last game of the season away at Sheffield only to be told, in mid May, that they faced a play off on June 2nd against Northumbria 2nds to avoid relegation. This was not good news as Northumbria is one of the big players in women’s soccer.

The girls went 1-0 up at half time but were pegged back for long periods in the second half and conceded with fifteen minutes to go. 1-1 at full time and with the same score at the end of extra time their season rested on penalties. 3-2 up after four penalties our fifth penalty taker managed to squeeze the ball over the line and secure safety for a set of very happy and very relieved palatinate ladies.

In contrast our women’s cricket team took on Sheffield in the last 16 of the trophy. Durham bowled Sheffield out for 51 and scored the runs without loss. They now face a must win game at home next week against in form Oxford. A win will not only secure a semi-final place but will also secure their premiership place for next year.

Durham’s present and past have a great deal to be proud of in the rowing world. First year and scholar Sarah Cowburn (Collingwood) has been selected for the GB full women’s quad at the next world cup.  An amazing achievement for a first year at University.

Our success on the world stage keeps moving on as our past students had a great day out at the world cup in Spain. Lou Reeve (formerly Hatfield) won two golds in the women’s pair and women’s eight – a remarkable performance. Alice freeman (formerly Hatfield) won gold in the women’s eight. Steve Rowbotham (formerly Collingwood) won gold in the men’s double. James Clarke (formerly Cuths) won bronze as stroke of the men’s eight and Sophie Hosking (formerly Trevs) finished fourth in the women’s double.

Edition 52 (18th May 2009)

Congratulations to Katie Sloane (St Cuths), Alicia Hockless (Hild/Bede) and Emily Green (Hild/Bede ) on being selected for the England U21 Lacrosse side.

 

Our men’s cricket team, despite having one of our strongest ever sides on paper, have found this a very difficult year. A crushing defeat at the hands of  Loughborough in mid week left the Palatinates fighting for their lives against Exeter. A win would place us mid table but a defeat could have seen us relegated for the first time in our history.

 

Exeter recovered well from a poor start to score 231 and at 73 for 3 and 160 for 6 Durham looked in serious trouble. A magnificent 80 not out from Joey Buttleman including a 6 and a 4 in the last over secured victory and safety for Durham with three balls to spare.

 

The depth of our cricket remains for all to see as the 2nds made light work of Birmingham 1st team in a must win game. The victory guarantees them progression to the knock outs finishing 3rd in their league behind Loughborough 2nds and Leeds Met 1st team. As a second team they should be delighted to have finished in front of the 1st teams from the large Universities of Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham.

 

The 3rds also won defeating York St Johns 1st team by two runs. Remarkably they have won their last two games by this margin which perhaps augurs well for their fighting spirit in the knockouts. They are now guaranteed to finish 2nd in the league behind Leeds Met 2nds.

 

Edition 51 (11th May 2009)

 

Our cricketers returned to form this weekend with wins across the club and all sides have now strengthened their chances of progressing to the final stages of their competitions. The first made light work of knocking off 218 whilst defeating Cambridge by five wickets. Scholar Tom Westley  (St Cuths) scored an excellent 95 not out. Our women scored a competent 216 against Leeds before bowling them out for under 150.

Elsewhere the 2nds won convincingly against Nottingham 1st team whilst the 3rds won brilliantly against Sheffield Hallam 1st team. Durham scored 242 before bowling their opponents out for 240 in the final over.

For once our rowers did not have it all their own way against Newcastle. My prediction, immediately before the race, that the only way our women could lose was if they sank proved highly prophetic as they did indeed sink resulting in some excellent work from the recovery team supplied by Gateshead. The men, leading by a length with one hundred metres to go, managed to catch a crab and stop resulting in the 13th annual boat race being unlucky for Durham as we lost 3-1. Given we won the women’s senior and junior eights at the British Championships the week before and completely out performed their senior eight the day did not go according to plan.  Congratulations to the junior women who won with some style.

Elsewhere congratulations are due to Scholar, Sandra Hyslop (Collingwood), who finished 2nd in the women’s GB trials for sprint canoeing and to another of our first years, Paul Elderkin (Hild/Bede), who won player of the year in the National 3 basketball league.
  

Edition 50 (5th May 2009)

 

This was always going to be the biggest sporting weekend of the year for Durham University. I had the pleasure of spending the weekend in Bristol, Nottingham and then Bristol again, to watch our rowers in the British university championships and our women’s hockey in the play off for the Premiership of England Hockey.

 

What I can safely say is that both sets of athletes rowed and ran themselves into the ground and that Durham University can be very proud of them all.  The outcomes could not have been more different but whether in defeat or victory the students were magnificent ambassadors.

In rowing the opposition raised the stakes with powerful teams arriving from Imperial, Cambridge, UL, Reading, Newcastle and Nottingham alongside 50 other Universities. The power players targeted individual events – Reading sculling and pairs, Cambridge and Oxford Brookes the eights. Durham on the other hand took them all on at everything with senior, intermediate and junior athletes rowing 2000 metre course after 2000 metre course trying win everywhere.

 

The top four places after three days of racing were as follows:  4th Cambridge 456 points, 3rd IC 504 points and 2nd Newcastle 585 points. After day one Durham had amassed 590 points and at the end of day three they were crowned British University Champions with 1,252 points.

 

Our hockey girls moved into the unknown. Unbeaten in National North they drew on day one 2-2 with Ipswich in a game they should have won. It is worth noting that Ipswich finished second bottom of the premiership and as such this was the first time Durham had ever played a premiership side. We lost 3-1 to Birmingham University on the Saturday, our first defeat of the year and probably just about a fair result.

 

It was then all down to the game against Reading on the Monday with the winner being promoted. The game plan was to pin them into their own half and keep them there. We did that and more, running Reading all over the pitch. However, in the end it was their tactics and not ours that won the day as their break outs won them the game 3-1, the last goal coming in the final minute as Durham continued to chase the game. It is probably best to leave this one by saying we had some rather disappointed young ladies at the end of the game.

 

Taking teams away to competitions of this standard is a huge challenge and my thanks go to the coaches, the physios the S and C team, the parents, the many friends and past students who supported both events, the sponsors and the volunteers. Without any question at all we had the most professionally run teams at both events.

 

Elsewhere our 1st team cricket were unable to hold UWIC but our strength in depth remains only too evident with our 3rd team defeating Newcastle 1st team with some ease.

 

  

  

Edition 49 (30th April 2009)

 

The Palatinates faced four final play off games yesterday and the results leave some interesting challenges ahead for next year.

The men’s rugby 2nds recovered from 23-3 down at half time to beat Nottingham 2nds 34-27 and gain promotion to Premier B next year. Only cricket and rugby have premier B leagues and our cricket 2nds already play at this level.  What does that mean for our 2nds next year – it means a massive challenge. They will now face first teams from some of the biggest Universities in England such as Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

Hockey does not have a premier B so the leagues go from premier to Division 1. The Men’s Hockey 2nds were promoted to Division 1 at the end of last term and yesterday it was the turn of our women’s 2nds to play off for promotion. The women have already been promoted from their club league, have won the conference cup and won their BUCS league. This was their play off to Division 1 and they duly obliged by defeating Central Lance 1st team  3-1. Both our hockey teams now have the same challenge of playing in an all first team league of big Universities.

Finally our women’s 2nds badminton also won 7-1 against Huddersfield 1sts and they are also promoted to Division 1. The only team to come unstuck yesterday in the final play offs was our men’s 4th team hockey who lost 5-2 to Sheffield 2nds.

Cricket was more of a challenge with the 2nds losing in a very high scoring game to Leeds Met 1st and the women losing out to the same opponents. The men can count themselves unlucky in losing in the final over whilst the women, with a very strong side this year, will almost certainly go on to have another good season.
  

Edition 48 (28th April 2009)

 

Sporting success for individual athletes once again evidences the depth and range of talent at Durham.

Matt Gunby  (St  Johns)  finished 2nd in the National Senior elite duathlon . He finished a close second behind Alistair Brownlee who has won many world titles and who led for long periods in the recent  Olympics.

Sam Reeve (Post grad) won the British amateur welterweight kickboxing championships at the weekend. Kira Roberts (University College) has been selected for the world student games fencing  squad.

Elsewhere, our rugby sevens did exceptionally well to reach the semi-finals of the British University Sevens eventually  losing to Loughborough.

Cricket has had an interesting start in the British University championships. A win over Oxford, a defeat at Southampton and a rain day against Leeds.  A win on Friday against UWIC will see us back on track.

Our strength in depth is however very evident. Our 2nds scored a massive 267 off 50 overs against Manchester 1st team eventually winning by 46 runs whilst our 3rd team destroyed York 1st team by six wickets.

Finally, our sporting giants went to  the sporting giant regatta this weekend with our women, minus their number one athlete,  winning and our men,  in a very competitive field, finishing 3rd.

Edition 47 (22nd April 2009)

 

If you are a talented sailor then the South coast, Oxford, Cambridge or Bristol appear to be chosen University destinations. Whilst our sailing team often dominates the North the finals rarely see us in the top ten. Not so 2009.

 

Pride of place goes to our women sailing team who went all the way to the final losing to Bristol in the final race of five. 2nd place for our women and our best ever finish in British University Sailing. The men were not to be out done and had three great days of sailing before going out to Cambridge in the quarter finals. A top eight finish and valuable BUCS points.

 

Our BUCS year has started well on the cricket field. In the one day game away at Oxford the Palatinates bowled Oxford out for 135 but made slightly heavy weather of scoring the runs for the loss of five wickets. In the two day game starting yesterday Durham scored 309 for 9 declared and look in a very strong position with their powerful bowling attack to follow.

 

Congratulations to Sam Billmore (Hild/Bede) and Sarah Hazel (Hild/Bede) on their selection to represent Great Britain in the U24 European Triathlon Championships. A great achievement.

 

Edition 46 (19th April 2009)

 

Played two lost two may not seem a very good start to the new season but there again facing the defending County Champions and Lancashire was always going to be a challenge especially as it was the first time any of our players had played on grass this year. Lancashire are said to have the strongest batting line up on the County circuit this year.

 

Scoring runs was the hardest challenge for the students but there were some excellent performances. We eventually lost to Lancashire in the last over of the day as the Palatinates fought hard to secure the draw.

 

Highlights:

John Glover took five wickets in an innings against Durham reducing the County Champions to 77 for 7 before Will Smith (Durham County Captain and former Durham University captain) hit 63 to take the County to 177 all out. Tom Westley scored 77 and Greg Smith 50.

 

Against Lancashire Paul Dixie scored a brilliant 103 and almost saw the Palatinates home to a draw.

 

Lancashire where captained by ex Durham University Captain Luke Sutton who was joined in the Lancashire side by another former Durham University Captain Mark Chilton who captained his County before Luke. It would appear that we not only help develop cricketers but we also help to develop leaders.

 

We are away at Oxford and Southampton over the next four days but County calls and work commitments mean we will not be at full strength so we will have to see how we get on.

 

Edition 45 (27th March 2009)

 

 It was freezing, it was windy, it was raining and it was away at Sunderland and it was always going to be tough.

2-1 up at half time Durham turned into the wind and raised their game one more time. Final score Sunderland 2 Durham 6. The Slazenger English Hockey National North Champions are Durham University.

This was one of the most outstanding performances in the History of Durham University Sport. We will now play reading (East Champions), Birmingham University (West Champions) and the second to bottom of the Premiership for the right to play in the top league of 10 in English Hockey. Two from four will be promoted.

Congratulations to the players, to the coaches, to the admin team behind the team and thanks to the many parents who have supported the team this year (Played 18, won 14 drawn 4). Thanks to all who supported today, making it like a home game, and thanks to the many Mentors who stood pitch side. 

 

Edition 44 (23rd march 2009)

 

Durham University had another magnificent day of sport yesterday.

Pride of place goes to our women’s hockey 2nd team. They have already won the NE club league and   BUCS division 2 and yesterday played the Conference cup final away against Lancaster 1st team.  They cruised to a 4-0 win to secure another trophy for Durham. Their playing record in this cup competition is scored 32 conceded 8. The women return to Durham next week for their play-off match for promotion to North Division 1 in the BUCS league.

The men’s 2nds hockey were also in Conference Cup action but gained a home draw for their final. The Palatinates were simply too strong for Liverpool  1st team winning  6-2. Their goals for and against record was even more impressive than the girls scoring 35 and conceding only 3 on the way to cup success.

Finally our men’s basketball   travelled across to the North West to play Lancaster in their play off match to gain promotion to BUCS divison 1. Basketball is a new target sport for Durham and the move to full time coaching has had a real impact. Our starting five also play for National 3 champions Durham Widcats and this is by far the strongest side Durham has ever had.  Fresh from an English Basketball  division 3 quarter final where the Wildcats defeated Glamorgan 95-72 the Palatinates were far too strong for Lancaster (a bad day for them)  and secured a win by 45 points.

Durham University basketball will feel confident they can win BUCS division 1 next year to gain a third promotion in three years and so secure a place in the Premiership of University basketball . In the meantime the Wildcats will play Westminster Warriors in the semi-final of the EBL Division 3 cup at home at the weekend.
 

Edition 43 (21st March 2009)

 

The Palatinates have had a sensational weekend of sport with rowing, hockey, basketball and mountain biking taking centre stage.

 

The men’s Head of the River race in London saw over 400 crews from all over Europe take part and the Palatinates came home in an outstanding 10th place winning the senior two pennant. More below.

 

The women’s hockey won at Bradford to go top of the national league with one game to play for the first time in our history. More below.

 

Durham Wildcats basketball won their final game to win promotion to National Two. More below.

 

Durham gained a silver medal in the British University mountain biking.

 

Durham performed brilliantly to win a top ten place at the Head of the River in London. The 2nd eight came in 63rd and the 3rd eight finished 93rd. 15 crews travelled from the Colleges and produced some excellent results with both John’s and Trevelyan finishing in the top 200.

 

St  John’s 195, Trevelyan 196, St Hild and St Bede 216, University College 249, St Aidan’s 258, Hatfield 293, Collingwood 340, Van Mildert 366, St Aidan’s 2nds 367, University College 2nds 370, St Cuthbert’s 377, St Chad’s 381, Hatfield 2nds 384, Van Midert 2nds 393, St Hild and St Bede 2nds 400.

 

The women’s 1st team hockey recorded an excellent 4-2 away win at Bradford but the absolute key to the weekend centred on Loughborough’s 3-3 draw leaving the Palatinates one point clear at the top of the National League for the first time this season. They now face a huge game against Sunderland next Saturday where a win will give them the National title and a four way play off for promotion to the Premier League of English hockey.  

 

The women’s 2nds hockey also secured a 3-0 away win against Alnwick to win NE division 1 and gain promotion to North Division 1 to cap a magnificent season.

 

Durham Wildcats Basketball, our partner club, have half their first team squad made up of Durham University students. They have had a hugely challenging year moving up and down the league throughout but a brilliant last six weeks saw them claim the National 3 title.

 

The only real disappointment of the weekend came in the men’ hockey in the national league. They went into the weekend at the top of the National league but an unlikely 5-4 defeat at home means that they will fail to win the title this year having never been out of the top three since Christmas.
 

  

Edition 42 (18th March 2009)

 

We have at last made it to the end of the British University Winter League season and an amazing 12 league titles have fallen to Durham in a remarkable end of year.

Pride of place today goes to both hockey and lacrosse.

Hockey won everywhere and with these results came the following titles – men’s 2nds North Division 2 champions, men’s 4ths North Division 3 champions, women’s 2nds North Division 2 champions, women’s 3rds North Division 3 champions, women’s 4ths North Division 4 champions. This has been a remarkable year for hockey and with titles available for most teams in their weekend leagues more titles will surely follow.

Lacrosse 3rd brought home the conference cup today winning away against York 1sts 8-5. They have won every game they have played this year and are also champions of North Division 2. The 2nds having already won the National Trophy have finished joint top of North Division 1 with Manchester.

Other league titles have gone to men’s basketball (Div 2), badminton women 2nds (Div 3), netball 1sts (div 2), rugby 2nds (div 1) and tennis 3rds (div 3).

There were also two wins and a draw in soccer with the women winning a must win game against Sheffield Hallam 3-2 away to secure safety and condemn their opponents to relegation.

There were two or thee disappointments for the Palatinates. In a winner take all in securing the league and promotion Durham went down 5-3 to York in the badminton having gone into the game one point in front. Women’s rugby went out of the trophy at the quarter final stage and men’s squash and badminton 2nds lost and are both relegated.

Durham orienteering club won University club of the year.

Hal Mohammed partnered by a student from Bristol won the national open Winchester Fives becoming the youngest pair ever to win the national open title.

Nick Zissier won silver in the British University modern pentathlon winning the fencing section in the process.

Former student and Durham Centre of Excellence cricketer Caroline Atkins scored a fifty against the West Indies to secure England a place in the world cup final.
 

  

Edition 41 (15th March 2009)

 

 

The large boat British University Rowing Championships were postponed earlier in the year and were re-run at Chester this weekend for eights only. Durham sent down a women’s crew made up of 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd team athletes and the men sent their 2^nd eight.  The decision to send these crews was due to other training commitments and the men’s head of the river in London next week.

Durham’s strength in depth was no more evident than yesterday when the women won the British Large Boat Head by 30 seconds and the men   replicated the women’s success in the afternoon with a win by a similar distance.  All three men’s crews won their categories with the freshmen finishing first in a category that included 26 eights.

In  Sheffield  Durham  picked up a gold and bronze in the Judo and a silver in the pentathlon.  The women’s volley ball   finished  fifth in the country and given that this is very definitely not a target sport this was a great result.  Women’s futsal went out to Loughborough 3-0 in the quarter finals having held the opposition up until half time.

The women’s hockey kept up the pressure on Loughborough in the National league with an emphatic 5-1 away win.

We have just had confirmed that Durham will become an LTA tier two centre of excellence  next year which will add to our present governing body centres of excellence of cricket, fencing and rowing. We hope to secure governing body centre of excellence status for lacrosse and a junior academy for hockey later in the year.

Finally our 4^th team women’s hockey were required to replay Sunderland 1^st team, having drawn the first game 4-4 due to some issues, not of our making. Final score Sunderland 1sts 0 Durham 4ths 19.

 

Edition 40 (12th March 2009)

 

Durham University women’s lacrosse took on Bristol 2nds in the British University Trophy Final in Sheffield. Having played in an all first team league their route to the final saw them defeat the power houses of lacrosse in Cambridge 2nds and Edinburgh 2nds.  As you know they have had some big wins this year but their 13-1 defeat of Bristol was an amazing result for a final and clearly evidences the value of full time coaching in sport. The 3rds play the Conference Cup final next Wednesday.

 

Elsewhere our netball team took on Manchester Met in their Conference Cup Final and came out with a fantastic 45-29 win keeping their season’s unbeaten run intact.

 

Finally, women’s football took on Team Bath in the group finals of the Futsal Championship, also in Sheffield, and won convincingly – more to follow in the next 48 hours.
 

Edition 39 (11th March 2009)

Pride of place for the day goes to our women’s badminton. They finished bottom of their premiership of five on games lost and faced a two match play off to retain their premier league status.

 

A 4-4 away draw at Manchester last week meant that they needed to beat Warwick today in their home game. They secured a 5-3 victory to fight another day in the premiership in 2009/10.

 

The disappointment of the day came in the rugby where our 1st team, leading 17-5 at half time lost to Exeter in the last sixteen 26-25. A conversion attempt, for Durham, with the last kick of the game slipped agonisingly wide. After such a successful league season for all three men’s sides the knock outs have been disappointing.

 

It is our women who are the sole survivors of our rugby and a 10-5 hard fought home win against Glasgow takes them into the last eight of the trophy. They have every chance of progressing further having shown great character against Glasgow in a game they were losing until the final twenty.

 

Our ever reliable netball team dispatched Sheffield 41-21 to emphatically win their league – we now wait on other results to see whether we are automatically promoted or need to play off against another division two winner.

 

Our 3rd team lacrosse faced Sheffield Hallam 1st team needing a win to secure their league title and just scraped through 26-2. They will join our 2nd team in North Division 1 next year. Men’s 4th team hockey defeated Hull 1st team 2-0 to secure their league title. Men’s 2nd team tennis defeated Northumbria 1st team 7-3.

 

The only final disappointment of the day saw our men’s golf lose a closely fought last eight game in the trophy. 

  

Edition 38 (8th March 2009)

  

This was a huge weekend for Durham University Hockey and a result record of played eight and won eight tells you the simple facts but not the drama.

 

Pride of place goes to Durham University women’s 1st team. They faced the mighty Loughborough starting the day four points adrift of the league leaders due to Durham having drawn four games and Loughborough only two. Neither side had lost before today.

 

In truth Loughborough were an outstanding outfit befitting their academy status and they pinned Durham into their own half for long periods and Katie had to be at her very best in the Durham goal to keep them out. The magic moment came ten minutes from time when Durham scored from a short corner and what followed was ten minutes or was it ten hours of valiant defending as Durham held out. With three games to play they are now within one point of the old enemy and there remains everything to play for. Hopefully Durham will not face the prospect of never losing a game and yet failing to win the title.

 

Elsewhere the men’s 1st team won 4-3 away at Doncaster and as with the women they are one point off the league leaders. Wins for everyone else keeps league titles open all the way across the club.

 

Our partner club Durham Wildcats are now one win away from winning National 3 and gaining promotion.
  

Edition 37 (5th March 2009)

  

Our women’s 2nds lacrosse had the unenviable task of taking on Edinburgh 2nds away in the national semi final of the Trophy yesterday and came away with a magnificent 10-3 victory. Only Bristol stand in the way of a second national title in two years for this team. If one adds to this that the 3rd team are already in the final of the lacrosse Conference Cup then this is a sport that Durham is undoubtedly starting to dominate nationally.

 

Our win/loss ratio was again impressive and we will know in two weeks time how many league championships we have secured this year. It is perhaps worth mentioning our women’s 3rd team hockey. They have played 21 league games this year, won15 and drawn 6. They do know what it is like to lose however as they lost 2-1 to our women’s 2nds in the Conference Cup.

 

Very few 1st teams played yesterday but there were wins for men’s badminton 8-0, basketball 91- 45, soccer 7-2, rugby league 32-14 and women’s netball a remarkable 83-10. Wins at 2nd team included men’s soccer 3-2, tennis 8-2, women’s badminton 8-0 and hockey 3-1.

 

The surprises came in men’s hockey where for the first time in living memory the 2nds, 3rds and 4ths all lost and by the same scores of 3-2. In men’s rugby the men’s 2nds lost out to Loughborough in the trophy 20-11 recording only their second defeat of the season.

Edition 36 (1st March 2009)

  

The good news amongst our championship teams was an outstanding 15-13 win for the 1st XV rugby at Leeds Met. This was good enough to place us joint top of the Northern Premiership with Loughborough and guarantee us a seeded place in the last 16. The 2nd XV won their final game to win North Division 1 by nine clear points and have gained promotion to Premier B next year – a great achievement but a tough challenge ahead.

 

Elsewhere in the championship the news was not good. Men’s hockey held Loughborough until the last ten minutes but eventually lost the British university Semi-final 6-3. Both men’s and women’s fencing lost their last eight matches – the men expected but the women slightly more surprising.

 

Our partnership basketball team Durham Wildcats has gone top of national three. Our women’s hockey won 4-0 away in the National League and the big game is now next week at home against Loughborough. HOT OFF THE PRESS – Durham men’s hockey, one point behind Belper, needed to beat them at home today to go top of the National League – 2-0 down after ten minutes they failed to convert three late chances and ended up with a 5-5 draw.

 

Lacrosse has continued their outstanding year. The 1st team having lost to Cambridge last week meant the 2nds expected a real battle against Cambridge 2nds in the Trophy quarter final but eventually walked away with an 18-3 win. Our 3rds beat Sheffield 1st team 15-5 to win through to the final of the Conference cup.

 

The men’s hockey 2nds won 6-0 and the women’s 2nds won 5-1 to win their semi-finals in the conference cup and they both look favourites to do a cup and league double. Women’s netball will join them in the conference finals having won their semi-final 44-36.

Edition 35 (22nd February 2009)

 

Durham recorded some outstanding results over the weekend to balance a somewhat disappointing Wednesday.

 

John Campbell (St Johns College) represented Team GB at the 24th World University Winter Games, in the first ever international downhill ski race to be held in China. He will wear bib number 1 as he was the fastest student qualifier in the world!

 

Our Pool Team, promoted to the championship last year for the first time, performed outstandingly to become the second best pool team in British University Sport, gaining 35 valuable BUCS points for Durham.

 

The rugby 1st team got their season back on track with a closely fought win over local rivals Newcastle 20-12. Newcastle now has to wait on results to see if they will survive in the premiership. By contrast Durham will need to beat Leeds Met to go joint top of the premiership or lose by less than 25 points to be sure of second place and a seeded position.

 

Our women followed up their win against top of the table Manchester on Wednesday by destroying Leeds 1st team 41-0 and so ensured a seeded place in the trophy draw and with it a home fixture.

 

Women’s hockey made hard work of a 3-1 win in the National League following their mid-week defeat but once again remain in hot pursuit of Loughborough. The men won convincingly against Formby 6-2 to go back to the top of the National league if only temporarily.

 

Both men’s and women’s 2nds won convincingly. The men defeated Ben Rhydding
3-1 to go 3rd and the women defeated Whitley Bay 6-0 to stay in second place.
 

Edition 34 (18th February 2009)

 

With three of four championship quarter finals away and 22 matches out of 34 in total away this was always going to be a very tough Wednesday.

 

There were some huge disappointments accompanied by some crucial wins. During the day Durham secured a number of league titles often in leagues where our 2nds, 3rds and 4ths have been up against 1st team opposition for most of the season. More titles will follow in the final weeks of term.

 

In the end a return of 22 positive results, for the second week running, left us two or three wins short of a great week.

 

4-3 down at half time Durham recovered in the men’s hockey to defeat London Met 5-4 to move into the semi-final of the British University Championships and will now face first seeds Loughborough. In contrast the women made the long trip to Exeter and despite dominating much of the game were knocked out losing 3-2. The first time for three years Durham has not made the British final.

 

Elsewhere in Hockey the women’s 2nds needed to defeat Sheffield 1st team by three goals to be almost certain of winning their league and gain promotion to Division 1. They scored with the last touch of the game to win 4-1. The men’s 2nds surprisingly drew at York but did enough to secure their league title with the 3rd team likely to be runners up in the same league. The women’s 3rds won 5-4 whilst the 4ths drew and both will have to wait a little longer to see whether the title and promotion is theirs.

 

Women’s lacrosse made the journey to defending BUCS Champions Cambridge and having held Cambridge at half time 2-2 eventually went out of the championship 8-5. A very disappointed group of girls made the long trip back to Durham but in truth they were beaten by a better side.

Elsewhere the 2nds lacrosse moved into the quarter finals of the Trophy as did the men’s 1sts who won 7-3 at Manchester Met.

 

Men’s table tennis finally found the last eight in Britain too challenging going down to Edinburgh 12-5, recording our final loss of the day in the championship.

 

In rugby Durham suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Northumbria going down 42-25 but still have every chance of finishing second in a seeded position in the league. The 2nds kept their title aspirations on track with a 73-7 win against Manchester 2nds, they remain unbeaten this season. One more win from three will gain them promotion into Premier B and the league title for the first time in our history. The 3rds destroyed Liverpool John Moores 1st 55-0.

 

Out netball teams had a ball with the 1st defeating Leeds to secure the league title whilst our 2nds moved into second place in the same league with a 54-34 win over Northumbria 2nds.

 

Women’s tennis failed to make it to the last eight of the trophy but a 10-0 win for the 3rds over York St John’s 1st team secured another league title for the Palatinates.

 

Basketball won again to move one step closer to the title and promotion. Finally, Women’s badminton 2nds won to win their league title and promotion.

Edition 33 (11th february 2009)

 

A simple question really – was this to be a repeat of the black Wednesday of 2005? In truth the statistics would suggest we were three wins off having an excellent day but that these may yet prove to be crucial losses in the final league table.

 

In the end we played 2 league games, 13 last sixteen championship games, 3 last thirty two trophy games and 13 Quarter finals in the Conference Cup.

 

League games:  won 2 lost 0
Championship cup:  won 7 lost 6
Trophy cup:   won 2 lost 1
Conference Cup:  won 8 lost 5

 

In the league our men’s rugby went to Nottingham and won convincingly 20-0 whilst our women defeated Manchester 12-0. They both remain in the top two of their leagues.

 

Getting into the top eight in British University Sport is always a tough call and the scores don’t really tell the full story.

 

Fencing (w)  
Durham 116 Edinburgh 115
Fencing (m) 
Durham 121 Leeds 119
Hockey (m) 
Durham 3  Sheffield Hallam 0
Hockey (w) 
Durham 8 Liverpool 1
Lacrosse (w) 
Durham 11 Manchester 6
T Tennis (m) 
Durham 9 Team Bath 6
Volleyball (w) 
Durham 3 Nottingham 1
Badminton (w)
Durham 0 Leeds Met 8
Squash (m) 
Durham 0  Birmingham 5
Squash (w) 
Durham 2 Cambridge 2
Lost on game count back
Table Tennis 
Durham 2 Cambridge 2 
Lost on sudden death tie break
Tennis (w) 
Durham 5 St Andrews 5  
Lost on sudden death tie break
Tennis (m) 
Durham 3 Nottingham 7

 

Our women’s fencers took on the Northern Premiership champions and won with the last hit of the match. Our men took on unbeaten Leeds and won with the last hit of the match. In contrast the three missing wins, mentioned above, saw our women go down in the cruellest possible way in tennis, table tennis and squash.

 

In the trophy Durham won through in lacrosse and tennis whilst our women’s 2nd team fencing went down to Loughborough 1st team.  I watched five minutes of the lacrosse game and saw Aberdeen score – final result:

Durham 2nds 31 Aberdeen 1sts 1.

 

In the tennis Durham 2nds defeated Glasgow 1st team 10-0.

 

The conference cup could have been so much better if our 2nds had not had to play our 3rds in three of the quarter finals. Through to the Conference Cup Semi-finals go Badminton (w) 2nds, Basketball (m) 1sts, Hockey men and women 2nds, lacrosse 3rds, netball 1sts, squash (w) 2nds, table tennis men and women’s 2nds.

  

Edition 32 (8th february 2009)

Women’s Hockey continued their chase to catch Loughborough in the National League this weekend. Remarkably neither Durham nor Loughborough have lost a game in this league and Loughborough still need to visit Durham. They have drawn fewer games than the Palatinates so it is going to be very close.

 

Durham won 4-0 yesterday against Liverpool and completely dominated their opposition but simply failed to convert the many chances they created.

 

Women’s soccer, struggling to stay afloat in North Division 2 in the eleven a side version of the game, clearly do not wish to relinquish their National Futsal title easily. They beat Sheffield Hallam 6-1 and Nottingham 7-0 this weekend to move into the quarter finals of the national championships.

 

Finally, we now face the defining week of the year with our championship sides facing their last sixteen games and with no cup points going to losing teams at this stage Wednesday will dictate where we are likely to finish in BUCS this year. Add to this the rowing Head of the River next weekend and a great deal depends on the Palatinates answering the challenges in front of them.
 

  

Edition 31 (4th february 2009)

A week off for premiership sides and bad weather left the Palatinates with only 21 games yesterday. A remarkable return of 17 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats demonstrates once again the strength in depth of University sport.

 

The 1st team soccer lost 1-0 to Sheffield Hallam and our only other defeat came when the 3rd team men’s hockey beat the 2nd team with a last minute winner in their top of the table clash.

 

Tennis had an outstanding day with the 3rd team women defeating the Hull 1st team 10-0 and the 3rd team men defeating Newcastle 1st team 7-3. The 2nds drew 5-5 with a very strong Sheffield 1st team.

 

Victories in all three badminton matches continues their excellent season and four wins out of five for our hockey teams highlights another powerful day for the club.

 

Important results were achieved by both soccer and basketball. Women’s soccer secured a 1-1 draw against top of the table Sunderland to stay just out of relegation trouble whilst the 2nds won 5-0 to move from bottom of the table to third. In basketball out 1sts won easily to stay top of the table and our 2nds moved to the top of their division, avenging their only defeat of the season with a 50 point win over the Cumbrians.

 

Wins were also secured by our 2nd team men’s fencers, netball 2nds, men’s and women’s 2nd team squash and men’s volleyball had an excellent 3-1 away win at Sheffield Hallam.
 

  

  

Edition 30 (1st february 2009)

 

Durham signed off a hugely successful month of January with a series of outstanding performances over the weekend.

 

Our men’s tennis destroyed Leeds University 8-2 to secure a place in the championship last sixteen for the first time in five years.

 

Our lacrosse team defeated Birmingham 9-8 and our 2nd team reversed their only defeat of the season by travelling to Manchester and beating their 1st team 8-5 in the result of the weekend.

 

Our hockey sides had a magnificent weekend. The men scored twice in the last four minutes to win 5-4 and go clear at the top of National North. Our women won 2-0 away on Saturday and 7-1 at home on Sunday to move closer to Loughborough who sit top of National North. Durham still has games in hand and has yet to welcome Loughborough to the Palatinate’s home ground.

 

The 2nd and 3rd team men’s and women’s sides also recorded wins in their Northern Leagues and the 2nd team men have moved to fourth in a league that some thought they would never survive in.
 

  

  

Edition 29 (28th january 2009)

  

With the last sixteen of the Conference Cup (there are no points for going out in this round) and premier league sides fighting for survival this was always going to be a make or break Wednesday for Team Durham.

 

Men’s and women’s fencing had both lost heavily away at Edinburgh and the men needed the unlikely outcome of a win and Birmingham beating Loughborough to avoid relegation from the premiership. Level after Foil and Epee Durham produced the afternoon of the year winning Sabre by three points. A phone call minutes later told us Birmingham had indeed won and the rest is history. Inspired by the men the women simply took the top side of the Northern Premiership apart to finish joint second in the premiership.

 

We had fourteen sides in the last sixteen of the Conference Cup and amazingly thirteen went through to the last eight. In basketball Chester arrived with twenty players wearing Chester Jet tracksuits, three coaches and twenty cheerleaders. It is doubtful whether Maiden Castle has ever hosted a game played at this level before. Unbeaten Durham led at half time, trailed in the third quarter and recovered to win a highly physical but skilful encounter.

 

Badminton excelled with the men’s 1sts and women’s 2nds through to the last eight. The result of the day probably goes to our women’s first team who have yet to play a relegation play off game and who, against all the odds, beat high flying Birmingham 5-3.

 

Netball won convincingly at 1st and 2nd team level. Hockey had a field day with the men winning at Nottingham 3-2 and the women drawing at Manchester. Victories followed for all but the women’s 4ths. (Men) Durham 2nds 3 – Leeds 2nds 1, Durham 3rds 10 – Northumbria 1sts 3, Durham 4ths 3- Northumbria 2nds 2. (Women) Durham 2nds 8 – Sheffield 1sts (unbeaten this season) 3, Durham 3rds 3 – Leeds 3rds 2.

 

2nd team men’s and women’s squash go through to last eight. Tennis 3rds through to the last eight.

 

The 2nd team lacrosse could only manage a 16-0  away win at Newcastle.

 

Elsewhere in the Premiership disappointments came with the rugby losing at Loughborough having  held the lead at half time – they remain top of the premiership. Lacrosse lost in the last minute at Edinburgh 10-9 and golf went down at Lincoln.
  

  

  

Edition 19 (25th Januray 2009)

 

Durham had an outstanding weekend of results to continue their amazing start to 2009. Once again hockey, lacrosse and rugby led the way.

 

In the National League Durham University men’s hockey defeated Sheffield Bankers 4-1 to go clear at the top of National North for the first time in our history. Our women’s 1st team also recorded a first by beating high flying Birmingham 2-1 at home. Our previous wins have always come in the Midlands.

 

Our women’s lacrosse took on local rivals Newcastle and won 9-3 moving them into a coveted top two placing. For the first time the top two teams in all premiership leagues will be seeded this year. Our second team played Liverpool University 1st team and won 28-1 in an alarmingly one sided affair.

 

Our men’s 2nd team rugby secured a close fought win to move top of North Division One, moving clear of Northumbria for the first time this year and still have one more game in hand.

  

Edition 18 (22nd January 2009)

 

Durham suffered their first defeats of the year but overall had a remarkable Wednesday with women’s hockey having a field day.

 

Durham rugby 1st XV recorded a superb win over Leeds with an 81-7 victory to take them to the top of the Northern Premiership. The 2nd XV also ran in points galore as they defeated Liverpool 1st team 58-10 to stay top of North Division 1.

 

In the women’s hockey premiership Durham 1st team won away at Northumbria in emphatic style with an 11-0 win. The 2nds defeated Leeds 2nds 6-0 to stay on course to win their league, the 3rds defeated Northumbria 2nds 6-1 to go top of their league and the 4ths, having beaten Northumbria 2nds in the cup 2-1 at the weekend, destroyed Teesside 1st team 8-0 to stay top of their league.

 

Men’s 2nds hockey defeated Northumbria 1st team 11-2 to stay top of their league. There were also wins for 3rd team rugby, men’s lacrosse and volleyball.

 

Only defeats for golf, our women’s 1st team tennis and men’s 3rds hockey spoilt an otherwise very important and successful day.
 

  

Edition 17 (18th January 2009)

 

Team Durham athletes have returned from their Christmas break firing on all cylinders.

 

The golf 1st team took on high flying Birmingham and secured an excellent 3-3 draw to almost certainly guarantee them premiership golf next year.

 

The hockey 1st team travelled to Nottingham Trent and having drawn 2-2 at home were delighted to secure a 4-3 win moving them into second place in the premiership.

 

In the North east leagues Hockey had a memorable start to the year. The men’s 2nds won 2-0 at home whilst the women’s 2nds, 3rds and 4ths all won – 5-1, 5-0 and 8-0 respectively.

 

Let us hope that these results signal a great term ahead.

  

Edition 16 (13th December 2008) - Term 1 Report....

 

One term in and do we still have a right to believe that third place in the BUCS table remains a possibility? I think we can safely say that it remains a huge challenge, not only to get near to Birmingham but also to fend off universities such as the fast improving Leeds Carnegie and the ever present threats from Nottingham and Edinburgh. It should be remembered that until last year we had never finished higher than fifth and it is also worth noting how easy it is to collapse as universities such as Cambridge and the University of Wales, Cardiff disappeared from their ever present top ten places last year.

 

All of that said – we have given ourselves every chance!

 

Our rowers out performed all challengers at the Small Boats Head, securing our first national title of the academic year in the process. They came back with more medals and points than ever before. They also had a very successful time at the first round of the GBR trials and we are sure that there will be more success to report in that respect as we move into 2009. Our fives club also had an amazingly successful BUCS Championship with no less than two players reaching the singles semi-finals and three pairs making the last eight of the doubles, with Fresher’s pair Inigo Ackland and Alex Griffiths eventually clinching the doubles title for the Palatinates.

 

It would also be wrong not to mention the success of our Canoe Club. This year the club, in conjunction with their alumni, have been asked to host two of the three BUCS events, a huge achievement in itself. The Wild Water Racing competition took place in mid November and the Palatinates did not disappoint, finishing fourth overall. Next up is the Canoe Slalom in February where Durham will expect to do even better.

 

The Cycling Club have also built on their success in 2007/08 and already secured further medals. The hill climb is far from Durham’s strongest discipline but the Palatinates still walked away with a bronze in the men’s team event with Hamish Blair, Rob Simpson and Harry Evans recording the times that counted for Durham. There is much more expected from the club in the New Year.

 

 

 

Durham also boasts one of the strongest sabre teams in the history of British University fencing. Fresher, Kiera Roberts, was crowned BUCS Sabre Champion in late November, whilst she has also had a huge amount of success beyond student level, recently defeating Great Britain’s number one senior sabre fencer. She is ably backed up by finalist Angela Bilardi and fresher Louise Creechan, both of whom are ranked within the top twenty in Britain at senior level.

 

Our Wednesday league programme has already left us believing that more silverware might be around the corner. Our traditionally strong sports, such as rugby union and hockey, have not disappointed. There is every chance that our first teams will end up in seeded positions for the Championship knockout stages whilst our strength in depth further down the programme is amazingly impressive with our second teams dominating in programmes which include large and established first teams from elsewhere. Results in England Hockey’s National League North have been nothing short of phenomenal with our men going into Christmas joint top and our women lying in third position.

 

           

 

One of the key changes we are making to sport at Durham at the present time is to bring in full time coaches in additional sports and we have seen immediate benefits with our basketball, lacrosse and tennis programmes continuing to develop at a fast pace. Our women’s lacrosse side will go into Christmas believing that a national title is possible whilst our men’s basketball are odds on favourites to secure a second successive promotion. The strength of our tennis programme is outstanding. We may never have the ability to compete with the four key LTA scholarship universities on a regular basis, but taking into account the success of our teams at first, second and third team level, we are already one of the top six performing tennis universities in Britain. Our full time coaching programme is an initiative that is heavily supported by our College system and as we develop the structure further the Colleges will gain increasing support that will strengthen not only College performance sport but also the administration and officiating of college competitions.

 

 

                   

Our Golf Club have also surpassed expectations again. Going into Christmas the men’s 1s lie in third place in the Northern Premier League with an outside chance of a top two finish – this would be an amazing accomplishment bearing in mind the fact that they are surrounded by R&A bursary funded institutions. The same can be said of our Squash Club, whose women ended up being ranked fourth in the country in the BUCS National League programme.

 

The BUCS Northern Cup, an addition to the 2008/09 competition calendar, also looks like it will provide a platform for success for many Durham sides including badminton, basketball, netball, hockey and lacrosse. Our objective at the beginning of the season was to win eight regional trophies at this level. At this stage we would fancy our chances to win six and would certainly not count ourselves out of the equation in another three or four.

 

So has term one been a success in terms of BUCS sport? The answer to that is emphatically yes. However much more of the same is needed if third or even fourth place is to become a reality.

 

Elsewhere we have also introduced a new College Points Table. This has proved immensely popular with students and we believe it will act as a stimulus to increase participation levels still further and increase the profile of a College Sport programme which is so important to so many whilst studying at Durham. Already this year over 4,000 students have competed for their College in approximately 2,700 fixtures. Similarly over 200 students have gone through coaching and officiating courses which are funded by Team Durham. Some of these statistics won’t be replicated anywhere else in Britain.

 

Our community outreach programme has also continued to develop at a pace. It is now a very rare day for the sports centre not to be full with either school children or one of our hard to reach groups. The work the team do is phenomenal and they continue to be a model of excellence for the rest of the country to aspire to emulate.

 

  

Edition 15 (10th December 2008)

 

With virtually all our outdoor games cancelled and a reduced indoor programme Durham needed to win some crucial games. It was in fact our women who once again led from the front.

 

Women’s fencing took centre stage winning away at Manchester and in so doing secured 3rd place in the Northern Premiership. Women’s volleyball came from behind in all three sets to defeat local rivals Newcastle 3-0. They also secured 3rd place in the top Northern League and secured a final 16 place in the championship knock out.

 

Women’s basketball won 69-41 in a must win game against Liverpool to ensure their North One survival, once again finishing in 3rd place in their league. This was a very tight league and their win has secured them entry to the last 16 of the trophy.

 

The only teams playing in the conference cup were our netball women’s 1sts and 2nds and both won through to the last 16.  To round off a very strong day for the ladies our women’s tennis 2nds drew 5-5 with Newcastle 1sts and our squash 2nds won convincingly 4-0.

 

Our men had fewer opportunities to perform although in amongst one or two disappointing performances the men’s tennis secured a 10-0 home win. Our men’s fencing lost heavily at Loughborough and now need to win at home against Edinburgh to secure their place in the premiership and to avoid a play off. Men’s squash also went down away 3-2 to Northumbria but remain in 2nd place in North One.
 

  

  

Edition 14 (3rd December 2008) 

 

Whilst our outdoor programme was decimated by the weather our indoor teams had one of their most successful Wednesdays of the term.

 

Pride of place goes to basketball where the men’s 1sts and 2nds and the women 1sts won convincingly. Tennis had another strong day with the women ensuring their place in the premiership for next year by winning 7-3 away at Nottingham and the men drew 5-5 to keep their hopes of a championship play off alive. Convincing wins were also secured by both 3rd teams keeping the women well clear at the top of their league.

 

An excellent win in the premiership for the men’s fencing, at home to Birmingham, 130-119 keeps their survival hopes on track but a 4-4 draw for women’s badminton, away at Leeds, means that they will face a premiership play off later in the year. 

 

At first team level there were also convincing wins for men’s badminton, netball and women’s volleyball. Finally there were wins for the women at 2nd team level in badminton, fencing 134-105 against Sheffield 1sts and  squash against Bradford 1sts 4-0.
 

  

  

Edition 13 (28th November 2008)

 

Durham secured a number of important wins throughout the programme on Wednesday. Highlights of the day at first team level included our basketball men who won convincingly against joint top Sunderland 107-55 and women’s fencing, where our team worked together outstandingly to defeat Newcastle 120-98 to move into mid table of the premiership. Both our men’s and women’s soccer sides recorded excellent wins, the men against the top of the table to move second.

 

Elsewhere our netball women won to almost secure the league title even at this stage,  tennis (m) won 10-0, our squash (m) won 5-0, our men’s volleyball came back against Newcastle to win 3-2 and our women’s rugby were far too strong for Teesside.

 

The surprises of the day came at Newcastle where our lacrosse team drew 6-6 against an improving Newcastle and at Leeds where our men’s hockey drew 2-2.

 

Men’s rugby 2nds moved clear at the top of North Division 1 with a convincing win over Manchester 2nds 31-15 and once again our hockey sides had a brilliant day lower down the club winning five and drawing one to dominate their various leagues. Netball 2nds won away against Sheffield 1st team, lacrosse 2nds defeated Sheffield 1sts 13-3 and our tennis 2nds defeated Manchester 1st team 8-2 to secure their place in North Division 1 for next year. These latter three results say a great deal about our strength in depth.

 

We remain on track for a good year but the next few weeks will be crucial for all our teams.
  

  

Edition 12 (26th November 2008)

 

Durham won their second national title of the year at the weekend winning gold in the British Universities Fives Doubles Championships. With our strongest team for years it was our two first years who stole the show. They beat firm favourites Imperial in the second round and never looked back on the way to their title. Durham also got their second pair through to the semi final picking up bronze medals. Two bronze medals also followed in the individual event making it an excellent two days for the Palatinates.

 

Team bronze was also won by our canoe team but the day belonged to scholar and junior world champion Sandra Hyslop (Collingwood) who won individual silver in both the KI women's Classic and the women's sprint.

 

In rowing Jo Fitzsimons (Collingwood), Sophie Vellacott (Cuths), and Kieran Emery (Modern apprentice) have been selected for the Youth Olympics in Australia.

 

Men's hockey beat fourth placed Leek 3-1 away to stay top of the National League.

 

Durham sent a first year team to the first regional round of the indoor cricket and won with ease.

 

  

  

  

Edition 11 (20th November 2008)

 

 Wednesday 19th of November is a sporting day that did not go our way. What positives can we take from it?

We won more games than we lost.

 

Our women’s squash, in their strange league programme, has made it through to the top four teams in Great Britain – remarkable achievement for this sport.

 

Our men’s basketball beat Bradford in the cup 170-17 (I am not sure what the world record score is?)

Our men’s rugby kicked a penalty in the last minute at Kingston Park to beat Northumbria 12-11 to stay top two. Our 2nds beat Northumbria 29-10 to go top, our 3rds beat Leeds Carnegie 2nds 31-24 (great result) and our women drew 10-10 at Leeds.

 

Our men’s and women’s 2nds. 3rds and 4ths hockey all won their cup games to go into the last 16 of the Northern Conference Cup. In fact all our target clubs in this cup are still in their fighting, with wins for the 3rd team lacrosse against Sheffield 1st 13-2, both netballs, men’s squash 2nds, golf 2nds who beat Leeds 1st team 4.5-1.5 and badminton men who won 8-0. Finally a win for men’s tennis keeps them in line for a championship play off place and our women 2nds defeated Sheffield Hallam’s 1st in the league. A good win also for Rugby League

 

So where did it all go wrong? We played Loughborough up here who kindly sent all of their England players – they obviously didn’t like our results down there! We lost 12-11 in lacrosse, 1-0 in women’s hockey, 3.5-2.5 in the golf (lost on the last hole), 3-1 in men’s hockey, 7-3 in women’s tennis and 6-2 in badminton. The first three could not have been closer. Add to that three defeats in football, two in volleyball, two in table tennis and three in tennis and it could have been a lot better. We are looking forward to next Wednesday.

 

I suppose the most positive thing one can say is that we no longer expect to lose to Loughborough in our key sports hence everyone is disappointed today.

 

  

  

Edition 10 (14th November 2008)

  

Durham women’s lacrosse led the day of success stories for Durham. A last minute goal to take the score to 10-9 ensured Durham beat the lacrosse super power of Edinburg and moved to the top of the Northern Premiership. 18-1 and 13-2 victories for the 2nds and 3rds rounded of a great day for the club.

 

Amanda Jones, our event scholar led a team of scholars, Zambian applicants, volunteers and podium 2012 pupils from Gilesgate School in running an excellent charity rugby challenge. 3,500 students watched Durham overturn a 10-0 deficit eventually winning 14-10. Convincing wins for the 2nds, 3rds and women made it a great day for rugby.

 

Elsewhere there were premiership wins for men’s and women’s hockey 4-2 and 8-0 respectively, a win for women’s tennis 9-1 against Edinburgh and a 3-3 draw for our golfers.

 

Basketball, tennis and badminton men destroyed their opposition and remain top of their leagues and netball won 51-11 to stay top. There were good wins further down the clubs with hockey having another great day.

 

The only disappointments came in a tough trip for fencing to Edinburgh where the women ran their opposition close, volleyball who both surprisingly lost and football who struggled at first team level.
  

  

  

Edition 9 (5th November 2008)

 

Durham made history this week by topping the British University points table for the first time in our history. True it is early days and our lead will be short lived but nevertheless with the first two months points having been allocated Durham head the table.

 

Pride of place this week goes to our 1st team rugby who won away at struggling Newcastle and stay in contention for the premiership title. Our men’s fencing team won well against the mighty Loughborough meaning we have won as many as we have lost this year against the super power of University sport.

 

There were further wins at 1st team level for badminton (m), basketball (m), netball (all now top of their leagues) tennis (m), soccer, squash and women’s volleyball – so a good day from a first team point of view.

 

However, the Palatinates found the journey to Birmingham difficult as too many premiership sides failed to cope with the challenge. They suffered defeats in golf, both hockey games, badminton (w), lacrosse (still top of the premiership) and women’s fencing against Manchester with half our team away at the European championships.

 

As always many of our 2nd, 3rds and 4ths did well. Men’s 2nds hockey remain undefeated and there were wins for all the rugby sides men and women and all our men’s tennis sides.

  

  

Edition 8 (3rd November 2008)

  

Durham University women started their squash campaign this weekend.

 

A 4-0 win over Edinburgh on Saturday was followed by a 3-1 defeat to Leeds (one of the top two squash Universities in Britain). The girls would have been delighted to have taken one of the games in this latter match and this left them with one more fixture on Sunday against Loughborough. There can be no doubt that we have the strongest group of squash players in our history as we took Loughborough apart winning 4-0. We now play the 3rd team from the South in a play off for the right to go head to head with the other top three Universities in Britain.

 

The 1st team hockey sides had a welcome break from the National League leaving our 2nd teams to take centre stage. The 2nds women played catch up and had a double header resulting in a 7-2 win away at Morpeth and a 2-0 win over Newcastle 1st team. Over one weekend they moved from seventh to top of their Northern league. The 2nds men withstood a physical battle against the City of Hull winning 4-1 securing a top half placing in the Northern Premiership.

 

Finally, congratulations to Jemima Riley (St Marys College) who has been selected for the Great Britain 2009 Team racing World Championships (sailing) to be held in Australia in January.
  

Edition 7 (29th October 2008)

  

Clearly the way forward for success is to find the money to appoint full time coaches to all clubs as women's lacrosse once again won everywhere. A below par 1st team won 11-5 against St Andrews, the 2nds went to unbeaten Liverpool and trounced their 1st team 22-6 whilst the 3rds won in the cup against former premier side York 1sts 11-7.

 

With many teams awarded buys 20 wins for Durham once again almost doubled the number of games lost.

 

In the premiership our international fencers ensured we won away at Birmingham 110-105. Our golfers beat one of the top golf sides in the country winning 3.5-2.5 against Northumbria. Our women's hockey, who have simply been unable to score all season, finally made someone pay as Durham trounced Northumbria 11-0 and finally we got a stronger side out in women's tennis and won 8-2 against Nottingham although in truth this was a closer  game than the score suggests.

 

Elsewhere in division one our women's volleyball and basketball won easily, our men's squash defeated Sheffield Hallam 4-1, our women's 2nds fencing beat Northumbria 1sts and men's 2nds and 3rds rugby won easily.

Men’s Badminton won in the cup 8-0, all our other hockey sides won easily again, our 2nds men’s table tennis won as did our rugby league side.

 

The big disappointment of the day came in men's hockey and rugby. In the former, undefeated Durham, went down 3-2 to Nottingham despite four golden chances in the last five minutes alone and rugby led all game against Loughborough before conceding in the last 2 minutes to lose 20-19. Both Durham sides will be major players this year and will remain close to the top of their leagues.

 

An amusing story came in the cup competition. Sides from division 2 downwards all go into a draw and can play anyone from any league. Our soccer 1st team men played Hull 6th team and came away with a 22-2 win!

 

Edition 6 (26th October 2008)

  

This was the first weekend that British University and College Sport (BUCS) had points available to be won and Durham have gone straight to the top of the university points table - we will make the most of this short lived lead.

 

The small boat rowing head was contested at Nottingham and Durham University performed outstandingly dominating the event and winning 5 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals from the 12 events. A number of 4th placed finishes will also add to our points total. This was a particularly pleasing display as this event doubled, for the first time, as a GB trial and all the top university athletes took part. Durham remain the best rowing university in Britain.

 

Gold heavy weight women's single Emily Taylor (Hatfield)

 

Gold heavy weight women's pair Sophie Velacott (Cuths) and Jo Fitzsimons (Collingwood)

 

Gold light weight men's pair  Ian Couch (Trevs) and Philip Morallee (Castle)

 

Gold heavy weight double  Emily Taylor (Hatfield) and Sophie Velacott (Cuths)

 

Gold heavy weight double  Andrew Ford (Hatfield) and Anthony Hurley (Aidans)

 

Silver light weight men's pair Edmund Cann (Hild/bede) and Stuart West (Aidans)

 

Silver light weight men's double    Nick Fearnhead (Johns) and Ian Couch (Trevs)

 

Bronze light weight men's single Nick Fearnhead (Johns)

 

Elsewhere our men's mountain bike team won team bronze picking up more BUCS points.

 

Our men's hockey went away to the National league leaders and amazed everyone by winning 2-1 and moving to joint second in the national league table. Our women drew yet again to keep their unbeaten record in the national league and now lie in third place.

 

A brilliant weekend for Team Durham.  

  

Edition 5(22nd October 2008)

 

The statistics show that we played 46 games yesterday, 23 of them at home involving 14 visiting universities. Our busiest ever sporting day of competition (given the extra four teams we have entered this year into the British Championship winter league programme) and our most successful ever. We won 29, drew 4 and lost 13

 

There were some outstanding club results with rugby and lacrosse leading the way.

 

Rugby won all four games (m+w) scoring 232 points and conceding only 48. Lacrosse won their three women's games scoring 46 and conceding only 10.

 

There were huge wins for both men's and women's basketball and volleyball, women's 1sts and 2nds netball and men's 1sts and 2nds squash.

 

Hockey once again dominated with six wins out of eight, badminton won three from four and our golfers won in the premiership 3.5-2.5.

 

Tennis had a better day with the men winning, the women 2nds gaining an excellent draw against Manchester 1sts and the 3rds winning 10-0 against Hull 1sts. Only the 2nds soccer returned a positive in the football but this will change.

 

The disappointments came in fencing with defeats for both men and women. Women's hockey, badminton and tennis and men’s table tennis all went down in their premiership games but even these reversals cannot take away from an outstanding days for the Palatinates.

 

Featured scores:

Rugby
Leeds 1sts 23 - Durham 1sts 65 
Durham 2nds 112 -  Manchester 3rds 5,
Durham 3rds 24 - Manchester 2nds 20,
Durham (w) - 31 Teesside (w) 0.

 

Lacrosse
Durham 1sts - 8 Newcastle 1sts 6
Leeds 1sts 4 - Durham 2nds 18
Northumbria 1sts 0 - Durham 3rds 20

 

Netball
Durham 1sts 52 Sheffield 1sts 22
York 1sts 32 – Durham 2nds 36

 

Volleyball
Newcastle (m) 0 – Durham (m) 3
Durham (w) 3 – Liverpool (w) 0

 

Squash
Leeds Met 2nds 0 Durham 1sts 5
Durham 2nds 5 Leeds 3rds 0
Durham 2nds (w) 2 – York 1sts 2

 

Badminton
Northumbria 1sts 3 - Durham 1sts 5
Teesside 1sts 1 Durham 2nds 7
Durham 2nds (w) 8 Hull (w) 1sts 0.

 

Basketball
Durham (m) 98 – Huddersfield (m)54
Durham (w) 76 – Manchester Met (w) 26

 

Edition 4 (18th October 2008)

 

With 39 of our 50 University winter league sides playing yesterday, some of whom only held their trials on Sunday and most premier sides away at Loughborough this was always going to be a tough day. Would we get anything at all at Loughborough was a good question.

 

In the end we were reasonably happy with 19 wins 5 draws and 15 defeats. Two of these defeats being our 2nds losing to our 1sts who play in the same league.

 

Results of the day were undoubtedly men’s hockey, women’s lacrosse and men’s rugby.

 

The university hockey academy system has meant that 75% of all elite under 21’s have gone to Loughborough. They had 14 age group internationals on their bench against our one, it would be difficult to envisage any university side ever having more internationals. Result: Loughborough 1 Durham 2.

 

The women’s lacrosse recovered from a 4-2 deficit at half time to win 6-5 and men’s rugby took on the huge Leeds Carnegie and their full time coaching team of three to win impressively 33-8.

 

Elsewhere our hockey won five, drew two losing only to Loughborough women 2-1, having led at half time. Results of note our men’s 4th team beat Hull 1st team 2-1 and our women’s 4th team beat Teesside 1st team 6-1.

 

Our new power base of men’s basketball destroyed their opposition at first and second team level. Badminton had a good day with two wins, a draw and a defeat at Loughborough. Netball look very strong and should carry all before them and whilst Tennis have ‘could do better’ against their name there were some pleasing performances lower down the club. The 2nd team golfers should be pleased with their 4.5-1.5 win away at Leeds 1st team.

 

Disappointments came in the soccer who only managed a draw from their three results, from volleyball and men’s squash but this is early days and for all three clubs the future looks okay.

Edition 3 (14th October 2008)

The first BUCS Wednesday is upon us and pre-season together with our recruitment suggests that we will have another great year. There would appear to be few weak spots in our armoury and expectations are high for many of our teams.

Hockey put down a marker this weekend with wins for men and women in the National League and for the 2nd teams in the Northern premiership and Northern League.

 

Similarly, Lacrosse sign posted what we hope will be a good year with three wins out of three in their friendly fixtures away at Newcastle. Wins also followed for our men’s and women’s soccer and good seasons would be hoped for from these teams.

 

It is difficult to say what we will learn from Wednesday as many of our premier sides travel to Loughborough where any result will be a welcome bonus – not the start we would have chosen.

Edition 2 (9th September 2008)

With students starting to come for pre season we can close the book on the most successful year in Durham University’s sporting history. Not of course before we remark on yet another magnificent success for Durham rowing.

Silver medals for Henry Chin and Nick Fearnhead, a bronze medal for Frances Fletcher and a fifth place finish for Simon Barr at the World student rowing championships this weekend is a great way to finish. All four students have excelled throughout the year and will be delighted with their final competition. Praise to all our rowing coaches who have worked tirelessly all year and specifically on this occasion to Peter Lee who coached the lightweights at the Worlds.

We are ready for the challenge of the new year and look forward to this being a really exciting twelve months. Changes in the team and new staff mean that we are better prepared than ever before to take on the university sector.

We welcome Rob Vickers back to our strength and conditioning team whilst adding Darren Fowler, a graduate of Team Bath, to double our strength in this area. Our fitness team is all change with Greg Randall and Richard Warburton joining Cameron Henderson to add further support to this area.

Connect Physiotherapy will continue to provide our invaluable medical back up.

We welcome a number of consultants to the sport science and lifestyle support team with Phil Dicks leading the team overseeing lifestyle management, Albert Potts overseeing our in-put on nutrition and Rob Cramb fronting our sport science testing supported by two student scholars.

Add to all this support our new mentoring scheme to support our top athletes then the support programme is looking considerably stronger than ever before. We have 22 volunteer mentors taken from all areas of university life. They have all been selected because of their knowledge of the university and their love of sport and will underpin our lifestyle support programme.

The most exciting of the changes can be found in our coaching teams. Our power base of full time coaching remains but new full time appointments in other sports will greatly bolster our performance base. We are delighted to welcome Stephen Jones, formally captain of Birmingham University basketball, to head up our basketball programme. He will make a real difference to this increasingly powerful sport at Durham. From the USA we welcome Emily Blatter who will lead our highly successful lacrosse girls into the new year. She had an outstanding playing career at College in the States and will bring considerable knowledge to this post. In tennis we are joined by both Martin Baldridge and Adam Barraclough, both outstanding players during their playing careers.

Changes in our rowing team mean a re-structure. We will be very sorry to lose Edouard but have now advertised for a head of women’s rowing and hope to appoint in the very near future. It is with great excitement that we are moving to a second modern apprentice and again we hope to have this individual in place in the very near future.

Finally, we have secured coaching support across the remainder of our winter league sports to ensure we have the depth to take into the new season.

Of course the most important commodity to us is our students. Forms returned to date suggest the talent pool joining us is solid. Particularly strong in-takes can be found in women’s fencing, lacrosse, badminton, squash, soccer and netball. Our men look strong in rowing and basketball and we can be reasonably happy with our hockey in-take, particularly the depth, and the same can be said, as always, of rugby. Despite massively demanding entry grades at Durham there are clearly students out there who can play sport to a high standard and perform outstandingly academically.

These are exciting times for Team Durham!

Edition 1 (14th August 2008)

Today saw the publication of the 2008 A Level results and with it their publication signaled the start of another academic year. Last year was one of our strongest on record but all of us at Team Durham are confident that 2008/09 can be even better.

Congratulations to all of those students who have secured the grades to get into Durham. I am sure that you will all have an enjoyable and rewarding experience at what is one of the leading Universities in Europe. From a sporting perspective, we welcome all of you with open arms. Durham University sport is going through an extremely exciting period and I am sure that many of you will play pivotal roles in ensuring its continued development.

If you do have any questions before your arrival in October please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best wishes.

Dr. Peter Warburton

Director of Sport

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Edition 78 (21st July 2008)

Six of our top rowers went to the under twenty three world championships this weekend and all six won through their heats and semi-finals to represent Great Britain in the finals. A fantastic achievement in its own right.

Pride of place goes to Emily Taylor (Hatfield) and Hannah Elsy (St Marys). They won Bronze medals in the heavy weight double. Durham University women have won world medals before as individuals but this is the first time a women's boat has been selected from the University to represent GB and gone on to win medals as a crew.

Nick Fearnhead and Henry Chin finished fourth in their world final in the men's lightweight coxless four and Francis Fletcher and Emma Steel finished 6th in their light weight coxless four.

Elsewhere this weekend our other rowers picked up a series of medals at the National Club championships at Nottingham and our junior regional rowers, coached by the Durham coaches, also won a series of medals in Ireland

Edition 77 (17th july 2008)

News has just filtered through that our six rowers at the world under 23 championships have survived the first day with creditable results. Emma and Frances are safely through to the semi-finals and the other four athletes remain on course for a potential medal finish.

Our fourth place is now confirmed and the top ten looks like this:

Loughborough 5169, Bath 3702, Birmingham 2890, Durham 2584, Edinburgh 2161, Nottingham 2155, Leeds Met 1856, Manchester 1630, Oxford 1622, Newcastle 1620.

So not far behind Birmingham and well ahead of Edinburgh is a very healthy position. Cambridge fell away to 14th, UWIC (once a top four university) 15th. So where to from here - well one more place is possible - we will enjoy trying!

 

Edition 76 (22nd June 2008)

We will not know until after this weekend how far we are behind Birmingham or indeed how far we are in front of Nottingham but what we do know is we are 4th. Without any question an outstanding year which only finished on Thursday when our women won the BUSA trophy cricket final - more points!!

As we turn our attention to next year it is worth reflecting on our highest ever finishing position. Our strength is our depth of talent across sports and our ability to mix it with the best in some of these sports. Our women's sport, in particular, is able to mix it in the sports of badminton, volleyball, lacrosse, hockey, tennis, cricket and rowing (all placed safely in the top eight in Britain). We sit high up but just off the pace in soccer, rugby and basketball and expect to be back in their with netball in the next two years. Also with 13 men's and women's premier league sides plus our rowing we become a very dangerous force in University sport.

Can we improve on 4th? - our assistant Director thinks we can - and with our new coaching additions next year who knows?

As I sign off the BUSA year I am sitting in my office expecting phone calls from women's Henley - how are we doing? - this is finals day and we have our eight and three pairs all through to the semi-finals. We have become accustomed to success every time our rowers take to the water and I am sure medals will be the order of the day but it will be tough - Henley is never an easy ride for anyone - our head of the river eight has been split up with our power rowers being placed in the double and the pair. Watch this space!!

Edition 75 (6th June 2008)

Reflections on a Spectacular Year

Over 25 athletes have gained age group international recognition this year far exceeding our numbers of the past. Sports not always associated with Durham success such as cycling, ultimate frisbee and karate have made their mark on the BUSA stage. Other sports have far exceeded their own expectations as with women’s volleyball, top eight national recognition, women’s tennis a semi-final berth, a national title for men’s basketball, a national final for women’s basketball.

 

What price national titles in women’s Futsal, canoe polo and lacrosse 2nds. With no indoor surface to train on the former defeated the mighty Loughborough 3-2 in the final and with no pool to train in the latter stormed to national success against a much fancied Liverpool University. Our lacrosse second team, with no such facility problems, was just too good for all opposition, the majority of whom were 1st teams.

 

In our more traditional sports it has been hockey and rowing that have taken their opposition apart. Our hockey men won the Northern BUSA Premiership for the first time and also won the club Northern Premiership, the Northern League and the North East League – a first for any club. They of course went on to win the five game play off and gain entry to the National League for next year – a magnificent achievement. Our women held on to their National League status with a solid year and made it to the National BUSA Final for the second year running going down 3-2 to our old rivals Loughborough. Only Durham, Loughborough and Birmingham now have men’s and women’s National League Sides – not bad company for the Palatinates.

 

If hockey has been successful no one can object to pride of place being given to our rowers. With over 750 BUSA points to their name they simple destroyed the opposition at the small and large boat heads and the BUSA Regatta. At the large boat head Durham made history by winning every championship event and at the BUSA regatta they took 50 medals, including17 championship golds, from 48 events. Are they the best Durham rowing squad of all time? The results of the Head of the River in London would suggest ‘yes’ with the women finishing 3rd and the men 6th.

Remarkable results that left the rest of University rowing a very long way behind.

 

So are we pleased with the year? Given this is only a snap shot summary and many other sports and individuals have played their part, rugby 3rd team national final, a semi final for women’s soccer and another gold for Felicity the answer is a resounding ‘YES’! Our athletes have every right to be extremely proud of their achievements, congratulations to you all.