The road to Roses has begun!

The road to Roses 2016 has begun! Roses is a bitterly contested sports tournament against our rivals Lancaster University. It’s easily the biggest event in the sporting calendar at York. This year we take the fight to Lancaster’s campus and it’s now less than 50 days until the hugely anticipated battle!

As York Sport President, I’m responsible for coordinating Roses with Lancaster and the sports clubs to make sure the weekend runs as smoothly as possible!

I was elected as York Sport President last year after I graduated from studying History at York. I’m so passionate about sport and my main aim as President is to make it as accessible and inclusive as possible. My university experience would have been very different without my involvement in university sports clubs and college sport and I could not think of a role more suitable to me than being Sport President in a city I love. Fundamentally, anything to do with sport, sports events, sports clubs, is my remit and I love it! Organising the Roses weekend and making it the best it can possibly be is a huge part of my role.

Roses for me as a student was the pinnacle weekend of my university experience. It’s basically like a mini Olympics with over 50 different sports competing across the weekend. It’s the one weekend of the year when all clubs properly unite together for one goal, to beat Lancaster!

The rivalry between York and Lancaster has been a long history full of conflict. Stemming from the War of the Roses that resulted in decades of civil war in the fifteenth century. This fierce rivalry lives on to this day, in the form of the largest inter-university sporting tournament in Europe.

The history books record a narrow lead for York, with 26 overall Roses victories to Lancaster’s 24 and this year we are looking to extend that lead even further. In 2015, York soared to victory, dominating against Lancaster 227.5 to 141.5 and who is to say we cannot top it this year! We’re already eight places above them in the BUCS league table!

This year is going to be bigger than ever. With a huge showcase of female sport on the Saturday and women’s football as the opening fixture on the Friday night. This year we welcome cheerleading, e-sports, futsal, pole fitness and rugby league as points scoring events and a range of new exhibition events including boxing, chess, golf, octopush, pokemon and wakeboarding!

After our monumental victory against Durham at College Varsity last weekend, I have every confidence we can beat Lancaster this year! Come on York!

To follow the road to Roses, check out www.roseslive.co.uk