After nearly a whole week of waiting for the go-ahead due to stormy conditions, the 13th Channel Varsity race started for Cambridge at 1.30am on 7th July in a rather frosty Dover car park. Following a rather nervous boat ride to the starting location, Flynn Ryan got the race off to start, diving from the beach into the chilly, pitch-black sea. An hour later, team captain Evie Anema took over just as the sun was beginning to rise. Evie had been preparing all year to swim the channel herself (which she did just a week later!), so an hour in the channel hardly phased her at all, as she was then succeeded by Cambridge Triathlete Ed Cator. Good spirits and constant support kept the team going as we inched ever closer to France, with strong swims from CUSWPC Captain Tom Woolley and President Eleanor Mason brought us just over the halfway point, as Flynn hopped into the water for his second hour in the channel. But it was Jas Eden’s second swim at the 9-hour mark which proved to be the most exciting, as she mustered the energy for a sprint finish into the shores of Calais to finish in a time of 9 hours and 47 minutes, beating the previous Cambridge time by 11 minutes! Unable to make the swim on the same day, the Oxford team swam the channel 2 days later, beating the Cambridge time to take the win.