In a varsity competition that rivals that of Oxford and Cambridge, Aberdeen Unviersity and RGU met in the Granite City Challenge on Wednesday 18th March 2015. It’s a famously fought rivalry between the two Aberdonian unis, and a competition that we here at AU do not like to lose!
In one day, the two universities compete in 34 different sports ranging from the more common sports of football and hockey, to the slightly more niche sports rifle, snowsports and Gaelic football! It’s a great day for even the less sporty of us to get involved in and it’s probably one of the only days a year where that American thing called ‘school spirit’ is pretty darn obvious. Everyone is decked out in yellow and blue and they calls of ‘RGWHOOOOO’ echo around the sports halls. Her Campus headed along to some of the events to support our fellow students, get a glimpse of the action and in some cases even play for the uni!
I headed along to cover the Cheerleading and it was an exciting year for our AU cheerleaders! It was the cheerleader’s first year competing in the Granite City Challenge as the team was only set up by our lovely fellow HC gal Ysabelle McGuire at the start of this year! We actually have a fair few of our HC girls on the team including one of our presidents Rhona, so it was great to go along and cheer them on.
I was amazed at how big the cheerleading team was and the commitment and enthusiasm they had towards the day. Not only were they practising all morning and competing but they were also heading off to sideline and cheer on the other AU sports teams for the rest of the day! These gals (and guy) have some spring in their step!
Unfortunately, cheerleading is a tough sport and one of the team’s flyers badly sprained her ankle in practice so after a brave last minute step in the team was raring to go and totally unfazed. The routine was fantastic and I was honestly terrified for them. I never knew how much went into Cheer and like they said ‘you throw balls, we throw people’. It’s pretty tough going! After the main routine was over (2 and a half minutes goes very fast), Kheira and Freya stepped up to the plate to show off their pairs routine and their talent was very apparent by their synchronisation.
The cheerleader’s beaut new navy, white and gold outfits were a hit and not going to lie, I really want one myself. They accessorised the outfits with pretty AUCC bows and some rainbow laces. I wondered what the story behind these laces was and was told that it was something that all the sports teams were doing. The rainbow laces were as part of a campaign run by Stonewall UK called ‘We don’t care what team you play for’ which aims to eradicate homophobia in university sport. So they weren’t just for accessorising but for a great cause too! For their contribution to the cause, the team won most innovative picture and were commended by the Chairman of the Charity!
President Ysabelle said “It was really fun to be welcomed into the sporting community by all of the other sports clubs, and it was great to be able to show everyone what we have been hiding away doing for the past six months, and to receive such wide, public support was amazing! I feel so proud that everything came together so well and that people have enjoyed what we did!”
Unfortunately after a bit of a kerfuffle with the RGU team, the cheer competition was labelled a no competition. There was a huge scheduling error, and sadly some of the RGU girls had classes they couldn’t miss, and the AU team had committed to supporting other teams throughout the day! So sadly they didn’t compete this year, but there’s always next year! But our team were still keen to show off their routine, as the lack of points wasn’t their fault at all! After an amazing achievement in their first year – AUCC are definitely the winners in our eyes! Go team!
We also had one of our girls Megan at the swimming and waterpolo and here is her take on the afternoon of watersports… As it was the first year of the Granite City Challenge watersports being held in the new Aquatics centre there was a great sense of excitement and anticipation. The men’s team had a landslide victory in the waterpolo when they won 39 – 0 and AU were off to a great start as the women also won their match! We were so impressed by the team’s ability to tread water for so long. Karen Wood scored multiple amazing goals for the girls and a little birdie told us that she also ended the night at Institute later in true swimming night out style by being escorted out by the bouncers after one too many VKs. Hey, you’re definitely allowed a victory celebration!
There was a huge turnout for both universities in terms of competitors and supporters which definitely attributed to a great atmosphere. The swimming competition was an incredibly close fought match with great performance from all the swimmers. Unfortunately, there were a couple of disqualifications on both sides in various events but it didn’t dampen the spirit! The most exciting event of the day was 100% the last race, the men’s 4 x 50m front crawl relay. The scores came right down to the bone as there was only one point in it before the last race – nail biting! Matthew Charnley swam last for AU and unfortunately was behind before the turn but brought it back on the last 50 and won it for AU! There was a great atmosphere on poolside with everyone cheering, taking part or helping out and that’s what the days all about.
Finally our very own Hockey girl Lauren headed along to the GCC hockey tournament to see how it was going down…
Having never lost in GCC, the pressure on the Men’s 1st XI was huge. As I arrived RGU were winning 1-0 but quickly the score was brought back by El Capitano Sid with a drag flick. From then on, the score just kept being evened with the final score being 4-4 with goals from John Reid, Jamie Connor and David Healy (one of our previous campus cuties). The crowd waited intensely to see whether penalty flicks would be needed and we were not disappointed. After going to a sudden death in the penalty flicks, AU’s goalie Rob Ashmore saved it, leading AU to a 6-7 victory over RGU.
The girl’s game came after the boy’s victory and the ever increasing pressure was evident. The score came to an overall 2-2, goals being from Shona Weetch and Ailsa Doig, which was painful considering the last goal from RGU was conceded in the last minute of the game. It was decided not to go to penalty flicks, leaving the score reflecting the match evenly.
AU’s current Sport President Mark McCorkell confirmed yesterday on Twitter that the landslide victory had gone to Aberdeen University, winning 36 events to RGU’s 23. He also said he was ‘so proud of #teamABDN’s performance’. We’re proud of you all too! I definitely think that the university spirit is something to hopefully encourage even more in the coming year, not just through sport but through every university activity – we’ve lots to be proud of!
Special thanks goes to friend of the society Megan Rennie, for going along and covering the swimming events for us!
Photo credit: AUSA & RGU Union and Aberdeen University Cheerleading Club. The rest are own photos.