Lancaster students celebrated victory in the annual Roses varsity tournament against rivals York University to retain the Carter-James Trophy.
Lancaster’s triumph by 241.5 points to 120.5 means they have won the last five Roses tournaments – the longest winning streak in the history of the competition, which has been running between the two universities since 1965.
Roses is Europe’s largest inter-university sporting tournament and at this year’s event – held at York University – there were 144 competition fixtures between students representing the two sides.
Roses began as a friendly suggestion by the vice chancellor of York University for a rowing race between their two institutions. Students seized upon this and added in table tennis, a relay race and a tug-of-war to that first event. Since then the event has grown beyond recognition with hundreds of competitors involved in a huge array of challenges.
Matches are contested in a wide range of individual and group games, in sports and disciplines including football, rugby, netball, darts, basketball, volleyball, futsal, badminton, cheerleading, e-sports, American football, hockey, frisbee, dance, lacrosse, handball, swimming, Pokemon, fencing, water polo, trampolining, table tennis, chess, korfball, tennis, cricket, canoe polo, rowing and climbing.
The competition paused for two years during Covid and since then Lancaster have dominated, culminating in victory on Sunday afternoon.
The two sides have been closely matched over the years, with York claiming victory 28 times and Lancaster 31. However, this latest win continues the longest winning run in Roses history. Lancaster did manage an unbeaten run from 1972-77, but there was one draw in the middle of it.
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