The Athletic Union Colours and Awards Ceremony 

Despite the cancellation of the physical AU colours and awards ceremony, the deserving students have still be nominated and received recognition for their commitment and successes this academic year. 

The Athletic Union Colours and Awards ceremony is an event that dates to 1947, that recognises exceptional commitment and talents in student each year. 

It is a massive achievement for a student to receive recognition for their hard work over the year and in return the awards are a chance for the University to show their appreciation. 

The commitment and enthusiasm of our student athletes despite their academic priorities has been beyond exceptional both on and off the pitch. From achieving numerous league and cup victories, to supporting the AU’s campaigns and events, and making sport and physical activity accessible to as many students as possible - our students continue to prove why we are one of the best sporting institutions in the UK. 

For that reason we would like to say thank you to our student committees and the recipients of their awards for the incredible amount of effort to run their clubs while completing their studies. Please see our online news story below: 

https://sport.exeter.ac.uk/about/news/articles/theathleticunioncoloursan.html 

Cricket 

Despite not being able to start their BUCS outdoor cricket season this year the University of Exeter Ladies Cricket Club took part in the Test Match Challenge 2020 via social media, alongside a number of other keen cricket Universities. Groups of students from Universities across the UK ran the distance between the 5 Ashes 2019 grounds, in order, totalling 913km in 5 days between 13th and 17th May 2020. A great effort from the EULCC girls who reached their target with a day to spare! 

Football 

The club’s tour to Poreč, Croatia was cancelled due to this Covid-19 outbreak. So the club thought what better way to use our 1 permitted form of exercise a day to raise money for an excellent and current cause. From Monday 20th April to Sunday 26th April, They (collectively as a club) ran the equivalent distance from TP to Poreč: 2000km in 7 days! Their efforts went a great way in trying to help the brave and tireless work that our NHS staff are doing. 

Golf 

Our golf performance squad, despite being spread out across the world in a variety of different time zones have continued with their weekly Friday morning stability sessions delivered by @oceanphysio Andy Larmour.  

“The Uni Golf team have been superb throughout the lockdown. We have continued our Friday morning stability sessions, every Friday including bank holidays with 100% attendance from all players, who are spread across Europe. We have also set up a Golf running club with weekly running challenges for the team, including entering 2 teams into the Strava MA RA TH ON this weekend. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with team throughout”-Andy Larmour, Ocean Physio and Rehab (https://oceanphysio.com/) 

Hockey 

University of Exeter Men’s Hockey Club, Joey Higham ran 5 marathons in five days to raise money for a mental health charity raising more than £9,000 for the charity Mind. Joey ran the same 26.2-mile route looping around a playing field in Loughborough on five consecutive days from Wednesday to Sunday. Joey received national recognition for his efforts from the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-52623858) 

Karate 

Karate have continued delivering 4 sessions a week to their members. Attendance has been excellent and it's great to see so many people training especially those from different clubs, associations and styles. This new online way of coaching has allowed students to continue training together and learning from each other, regardless of club or style. 

Korfball 

Although Korfball has been brought to a halt, that hasn’t stopped Korfball continuing to offer one of the inclusive club environments at the University. They challenged all members to bake a delicious sweet treat, with polls on social media to decide on a winner. For those members who weren’t into baking, a group met weekly to discuss their favourite and current books they were reading. 

Netball 

In April University of Exeter Netball Club (EUNC) set out to run 3000km in 7 days for NHS Charities Together. Combined miles from any club member were added up over the 7 days with the club smashing their initial target and finishing the week with a total of 4463km and raising £3108 for the NHS. 

With no netball currently allowed due to social distancing rules, members of the University of Exeter Netball Club 1st team delivered a ball skills and fitness session for Exeter Netball Club juniors via zoom. Despite a number of pets who were also very keen to join in, the session was a great success and gave everyone the chance to get involved with some netball again! 

Rugby League 

On Sunday the 7th of June, Rugby League club member Greg Cooke completed a 210km round cycle, a tour of the houses of some of his closest mates from Shiplake College for some socially distanced waving and catching up. 

Greg said, "It will be tough but it’s worth it to see the boys and promote a cause we all care about... Take it into your own hands, give a mate/family member/colleague a call or send a message just to check in - we all know how much it means when you’re on the receiving end. Text, call, dm, email, carrier pigeon - just let people know they’re wanted". 

Tennis 

The tennis performance squad took part in a hotly contested plank championships via zoom with some brutal battles and one of the longest lasting over 7 minutes! They followed this up with the team Exeter Tap up Championships with the men’s and women’s 1s meeting in the final.  

Tennis also took part in a 12 hour running relay organised by University of Exeter Sport S&C coach Beef (Alan Pope). Overall there were 120 University of Exeter Sport athletes running from tennis, cricket and hockey who amassed 743.95km in 30min shifts. Top scores (distance covered on 30min leg) were 8.11km and 8.05km from 2 women’s hockey players! 

Triathlon 

Many of our members took part in the 'Trisolation challenge' which is a virtual duathlon race between Universities spread over 3 days as a bit of fun when they would have been hoping to be racing BUCS.As part of this challenge they competed against other Universities to raise the most money for a chosen charity. As a committee they chose to support Exeter Foodbank due to all of our close links to Exeter and to support smaller charities who are struggling to keep funding coming in with events having to be cancelled. The Exeter Foodbank is a fabulous charity who helps to provide nutritious meals to those around Exeter who find themselves unable to without support! 

Trampoline 

To keep up with some basic fitness the club thought it would be a good idea to start EUTC Fitness Fortnight. Each day the club set a challenge on their Instagram (@exetertrampolineclub), They received videos from all over the country from their members, parents and even pets. 

Despite the current circumstances its been great to see how creative our sports club members have been and how they have managed to continue with remote club activity. We all hope to be reunited back on campus when it is safe to do so #BleedGreen!