Furness and Cartmel’s annual competition Patriots is upon us on the Friday and Saturday of Week 8. SCAN spoke to Cartmel Sports Officers Alistair Welford and Charlotte Andiyapan to get their perspective on the weekend, including the preparation they’ve put in, which sports they’re expecting to win and what supporters can expect over the weekend.
Patriots is a huge event and therefore it is also a huge organisation job. Both Charlotte and Alistair said that organisation so far had been really good, and everything has gone smoothly with their Furness counterparts, setting up for a really exciting weekend of competition. This year, Cartmel supporters will be able to buy a £4 supporter pack, with a t-shirt and ‘those inflatable sticks that you bang together which nobody knows the proper name of’. There will also be drinks deals at Cartmel, where the action will be taking place, over the weekend, as well as free Sugar entry for the first 100 to arrive on Saturday.
Another tie in which the Cartmel contingent is keen to push is the tie in of a healthy eating campaign that their welfare officers have been running this term. They’ll be encouraging healthy eating over the weekend, with lunch included in supporter packs. Alistair also mentioned that as well as drinks deals, there will be food offers in Cartmel’s bar all weekend – so there’s no excuse to go home!
In terms of events taking place over the weekend, there is a combination of sports, including ones which are firm fixtures every year, including football, netball and bar sports, as well as other events which alternate year-on-year. This year, those events include mixed hockey, a FIFA tournament, table tennis, dodgeball and rugby sevens to name a few. A pre-Patriots FIFA tournament has already been held to get people hyped up for the event – as well as to secure the best team possible!
The FIFA tournament has been just one of Alistair and Charlotte’s efforts to engage students with the event. There has been a lot of promotion already for the event, including live streams of all inter-college matches this year. Because of this, Cartmel are confident in attracting a number of uni-level players for their side and keeping the Patriots Cup where it currently sits. But it’s not all about uni-players, Patriots is one of those events where it’s really more about everyone getting involved. The Saturday afternoon will see events such as rounders, flag football and tug-of-war, which will have a high level of audience participation and be all about getting the crowd involved. If you already know you’re interested in competing in any of the events though, sign-up sheets can be found in the Cartmel JCR.
Although Cartmel won last year, we are all aware that it wasn’t without it’s controversies. But that isn’t what Alistair and Charlotte are dwelling on, Charlotte said that one of the most memorable things from last year’s Patriots was the fact that they had lost every event on the Friday, but then managed to turn this over mid-Saturday morning with a netball win, winning the vast majority of subsequent events. This overturned a 60-point deficit between the two colleges which led to the now-infamous Boat Race final. Charlotte was definitely confident that their win could be repeated though, admitting that she thinks they are ‘going to destroy Furness’.
Alistair and Charlotte were keen to point out that the event isn’t just for Cartmel and Furness too. As with the live streams they have been providing, they are hoping to do this throughout Patriots weekend, and have even got hold of some Go-Pro vests so that everyone can be right in on the action, not just those on the playing field! In terms of the ‘can’t miss’ events Alistair said his would be the hockey, whilst Charlotte said that the hockey and netball would be her stand outs. These are some of the events that Charlotte said they were expecting to win. President vs. President pool is also shaping up to be an exciting event, their JCR President Phoebe (surname) has been get as much practice in as possible to take the bragging rights for the next year.
It’s certainly shaping up to be a very exciting weekend with plenty going on for competitors and spectators, which ever college you belong to! Events will be taking place around campus over the weekend, and a full list of events can be found on the Patriots Facebook event. If you’re not able to make it down, keep an eye out for the live streams and be sure to follow the Twitter hashtag #lupatriots
