Durham wins an incredible 13 BUCS titles

Out of 18 finals Team Durham competed in on Wednesday 21 March, they walked away with a phenomenal 13 titles.

BUCS Big Wednesday, one of the most highly anticipated days in the sporting calendar, was this year hosted by the University of Nottingham. But despite the trek to unfamiliar territory Durham pulled out all the stops. And even though term has ended and most people are spending their time catching up on sleep, they still managed to take a fan bus down.

The 13 triumphs brought Durham eight BUCS Championships, four trophies and one vase, alongside many retained titles. One of which being the W1 Lacrosse team who snapped up the National Championships for the fourth year running, with a 13-4 win against Cambridge.

Vicky Sayer, who plays for the W1 Lacrosse team, told us about the match saying, "Cambridge put up a good fight for the first 15 minutes of the final but really from then we dominated the game."

She added: "This season has been incredible, with international success against Germany in February, and we have had so much fun along the way, winning BUCS again was truly the icing on the cake."

The 18 finalists included: W1 and M1 Lacrosse, M1 and W2 Hockey, M2 Rugby Union, W1 Table Tennis, M1 and W1 Fencing, W1 Football, W1 Basketball, M1 and W1 Tennis, M2 and W2 Tennis, W1 Football, W1 Water Polo, W1 Volleyball and W1 Badminton.

It was the second national title in a row for M1 Fencing, W1 Water Polo, W2 Tennis and W1 Football, alongside a nice vase for DURFC who won their National Vase final 37-33 against Hartpury.

After a smashing final, W1 Badminton stole the show with a 5-3 win against hosts Nottingham to lift the National Trophy. After an unbeaten season, Captain Liv Trevor said: "with the extra pressure of playing against the home team, nerves and expectations were definitely running high at the start of the match".

She added: "It's a day that DU Badminton Club won't forget in a hurry as it's the first time that we have achieved this title, but hopefully not the last!"

Tommy Curran Jones, M1 Fencing Captain, told the Tab Durham that the pressure was on due to going into Wednesday as the favourites, having been the 2017 champions. He said the team were "confident going in", which clearly paid off with their 126-116 victory over Edinburgh.

He said: "It was a superb team effort, every single member producing a great performance".

After incredible performances across the board, other victories included M1 Hockey, with an intense game boiling down to penalty flicks against Nottingham Trent, ending in a 3-1 win. W1 Table Tennis scored a 3-0 win, and Tennis crushed three out of their four finals, narrowly missing out on their fourth title in the Women's Championship against Stirling.

With a close game of 84-83 the W1 Basketball team managed to keep their edge and take the National title from under Northumbria's nose. W2 Hockey also secured a win of 2-1 against Birmingham University making them the National Trophy Champions.