Varsity victory sets wheels in motion for new ski club

A team of St Catharine’s undergraduates have returned triumphant from the recent Varsity Ski Trip and are now planning to create a club for alpine skiing.

The Varsity Trip is the annual ski and snowboard trip organised by and for students from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. This year’s trip took students to the French ski resort of Val Thorens in early December 2022.

The St Catharine’s team who competed during the trip consisted of four undergraduates:

• Julie Boury, a second-year HSPS undergraduate
• Sacha Groom, a first-year Modern & Medieval Languages undergraduate
• Kieron Patel, a third-year Economic undergraduate
• Seb Porter, a second-year Geography undergraduate

St Catharine’s was the only Cambridge team to survive two knockout Grand Slalom races, with Oxford teams claiming victories after the other races. A relatively smooth victory over Downing College was followed by a dramatic race against a team from Girton College, who logged a faster time but were ultimately disqualified after one of their skiers lost both skis before reaching the finish line.

The team are now in the early stages of creating the St Catharine’s College Alpine Skiing Club (SCCASC for short), with hopes of organising practice sessions at a local ski slope and a skiing-themed social event during Lent term.

Julie commented, “Despite most of us having never raced before, morale was high and technique was impeccable. I had a great time competing and I thought the team really came together for the wheel. It was a perfect inaugural race for SCCASC with hopefully many more to come. Stay tuned for what SCCASC has in store next term!”