Tales from the Track...

Jack E Organ (SNH/ORC, 22-24) was incredibly fortunate to spend two weeks in the US competing for the Achilles Club (a combined team of Oxford and Cambridge athletes) against combined teams of Harvard-Yale and Penn-Cornell in the oldest athletics competition in the world.

The Achilles Club, the athletics (track and field) club for current and former members of Oxford University Athletics Club (OUAC) and Cambridge University Athletics Club (CUAC). OUAC and CUAC athletes who have competed in the annual Varsity Match are invited to join Achilles.

It was an honour to be part of the men’s team that won the competition for the first time in 16 years and he was proud to win the 800m in both matches. From the Rocky Steps to the historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Fenway Park in Boston, ice in Ithica, bagels in NYC, and living and training alongside the students of all four universities, the trip was a special opportunity to form friendships that bridge both the Atlantic and the Oxford-Cambridge rivalry, and one that I am very grateful to have experienced.

Every fourth year Achilles arranges a tour to the USA for a series of matches against Harvard and Yale, and other Ivy League Universities, including Pennsylvania and Cornell: this tour is exclusively for Oxford and Cambridge students, and all OUAC or CUAC members are eligible for consideration for selection for one such tour.

In the intervening years, Achilles hosts reciprocal matches for visiting American teams, which OUAC and CUAC athletes are expected to support. The series offers a unique opportunity to mix with a different culture, face high quality competition, and forge transatlantic friendships.  The Achilles v. Harvard & Yale match is the world's oldest international fixture: it originated in 1894, and so predates the modern Olympics.

Members who have held World Record