Manchester lifts the Christie Championships shield once again
08 May 2013
Students from Manchester racked up a total of 187.5 points to secure first place in a landslide victory over Leeds and Liverpool in the second oldest inter-university competition.
Leeds took second place with 153 and, despite heading into the final day in a close second place, Liverpool came third with 137.5 points on the board.
More than 800 students from the Universities of Liverpool and Leeds descended on the Manchester campus and local sporting venues for the final day of the 127th Christie Championships on 24 April. Christie Championship is the Ultimate Battle of the North with the triangular fixtures making it a unique varsity style event. 130 fixtures are played in 29 different sports, with a large proportion of the fixtures taking place in one just afternoon.
Manchester went into the final day with a 0.5 point lead over Liverpool and 1.5 point advantage over Leeds. With it all to play for, Manchester made a strong start in their early fixtures against Liverpool with clear wins in Hockey, Fencing, Squash, Table Tennis and Waterpolo.
Then Manchester had to sit and watch from the sidelines as the Leeds and Liverpool fixtures got underway. Leeds appeared to be crawling back the points with some extremely close results going in their favour, notably the nail-biting Basketball game at the Sugden Centre that finished 49-48 to Leeds.
Manchester went into the final stages hoping they could do enough to tighten their grip on the trophy. Again Manchester put in a strong performance in Fencing, Hockey, Waterpolo and Table Tennis and dominated Leeds in Ultimate Frisbee, Rugby Union, Lacrosse and Netball. With results trickling in from further a field including wins for Manchester in Ski, Tennis, Swimming and Pool & Snooker, Manchester were confident that the shield was firmly in their grasp.
The competing students congregated in Owens Park hall to receive their trophies and find out where the Christie shield would spend the next 12 months. The crowd erupted as Manchester was announced the overall winners and celebration continued well into the evening at the AU Social in the Students’ Union.
Andrew Cowan, Manchester’s Athletic Union Chair said “It was a great day and such a huge relief to retain the title for Manchester on home soil. Thank you to everyone who was involved including the players, supporters, volunteers and staff members – the atmosphere was amazing and we couldn’t have hosted this hugely successful event without you.”
Next year Manchester and Liverpool will be heading over to Leeds for Christie Championship 2014!
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