Lancaster have been unable to retain the Carter-James Trophy, losing Roses 2013 by 75 points.
The annual contest is the largest inter-varsity sporting competition in Europe, and the hosting duties alternate between Lancaster and the other constituent party of the competition – the University of York. This year, Lancaster reached a total of 105.5 points whilst York finished at 180.5. The margin of defeat was similar to the one inflicted on Lancaster at the last away Roses, when Lancaster lost by 74 points. The competition is now in its 49th year, and Lancaster has celebrated 23 victories in that time.
Next year’s tournament will be its 50th anniversary and will be held at Lancaster and plans are already underway to make the event the biggest yet.
Liz Ashworth, LUSU Vice President (Activities), told SCAN that she was pleased by the Lancastrian performances, but she feels that work needs to be done on the development of our teams to ensure that the trend of host universities winning the title continues next year. She said: “The number of points York are winning by away are increasing and the number of points we win by at home is decreasing, this trend is a fact. The embarrassment of losing the 50th Roses anniversary and home tournament would be catastrophic.”
The tournament officially began with an opening ceremony at the city’s Huntingdon Stadium ahead of the Men’s Rugby 1sts fixture. The all-ticket event was attended by over 2,500 people and saw Lancaster lose by a considerable margin with the final score seeing York on 50 points and Lancaster on 14.
Student media at Lancaster aimed to provide extensive coverage for students back home, primarily under the Roses Live brand. Bailrigg FM worked in partnership with University Radio York on a joint stream, whilst LA1:TV filmed many events – including the showpiece Men’s Rugby 1sts event – and broadcast regular live bulletin updates. SCAN worked to provide extensive coverage of as many sports as possible for a special edition of the newspaper.
