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The competition has been created as an alternative to York Varsity, which was held against York St John until last year. York Uni thrashed their intra-city rivals 91.25 – 19.25 last year, meaning they had won every tournament contested. York St John only scored points in three out of 11 sports contested last year and they only scored more points than York in one sport. This one sidedness of the competition made it an unexciting affair for all, especially for York’s teams who found the event was not the best preparation for Roses.
The overall BUCS results from last year seem to support the idea that Hull will provide more competition than York St John: Hull finished 68th to St John's 91st, while York managed to finish 44th. As a result of this, and with home advantage, the smart money would be on York.
The action has already started, with York winning the golf at Fulford golf club on Wednesday, to go 4-0 up in the competition. Saturday and Sunday will see matches in 15 more sports, ranging from football and rugby, to climbing and dancesport. However because of BUCS fixtures being rescheduled due to the poor weather last term, there will be no hockey games and there will not be a men’s firsts rugby match.
When asked about his predictions for the event in a recent interview with the Yorker, Yorksport president Sam Asfahani said the following “Varsity is a difficult one, it’s brand new, it’s being held for the first year so you never know. Hull is still a university we should be beating, and hopefully we will, but it’s not going to be the whitewash we normally see against York St John.”
As well as all the sporting fixtures there will be late night events to keep the party going: Saturday night sees Club D goes back to school in Derwent bar, whilst the official Varsity after-party takes place on Sunday night in Vodka Revolution.
As for what actually happens, you can get all the latest from the Yorker live-blog over the weekend's two days of action (Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th) and see the White Rose trophy presented during the closing ceremony at 6pm on Sunday in L/N/028.
Good luck York!
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