Stress (Fractures)

I was going to write this standing up, but I was at the physio earlier for a foot injury and he callously made me do squats so I can barely remain upright. The good news is that I have been given the green light to run 3k very slowly at some point in the next few days, which is a massive relief. I've not done a proper run since the start of March and have been going stir-crazy from the lack of endorphins. My stress fracture meant that I couldn't run the marathon I had entered in April, and which was one of my two goals for the first third of the year (specifically to set a PB). The other goal was to complete a readable draft of the novel I've been working on since 2020, which I finally did on Friday. If anyone wants to read it send me a message with your Kindle email and I can zap an eBook copy straight over.

But for now let's focus on the tenth quarter-final, between Newnham and Southampton. I tried to update the diagram I included in my review of the first one so that it shows all of the results, but the whole thing was screwed up because the Winner-Losers played each other rather than the Winner-Losers playing the Loser-Winners. If you need a refresher on what the Winner-Losers and Loser-Winners are then you'll have to go back and read that blog. There are other issues with the diagram as designed (as will become clear later), but for now, try and take what you can from the shambles you see below.

Newnham lost to Bristol and beat Jesus, while Southampton lost to Durham and beat RGU (as should be clear from the above). This was their last chance to join Holloway, Bristol and Durham in the Final Four; here's your first starter for ten.

Its taken by Newnham's Bowen, with a heavily accented pronunciation of Sturm und Drang. She nods to herself after giving her answer, and they take a couple of bonuses on East Germany. Another, this time from Ellis, puts Newnham forty clear after the opening exchanges.

Belcher hits back for Southampton with Derrida, and the South coasters go on a little run of their own to take the lead. On one of these starters, Chen buzzes in with Hungary when the question had asked for a city. Belcher duly waited until Paxman had finished reading and, rather reluctantly, gave Budapest, which Chen had blurted out as well. Gutting.

Two in a row for Ellis, superb for Newnham all series, tied the game going into the music round. At this point Lyon grabbed control for Southampton with the first of a few starters over a period in which he took the match by the scruff of the neck. Even when he was feeling sorry for himself, after guessing wrongly on the first two music bonuses ("well, both of my guesses have gone to pot"), he pulls something out of the bag with Britten on the last.

With the deficit at sixty points, Chen makes amends for her earlier error as Newnham made a late charge. They halve the gap, but Belcher extends it again. Ellis, and then Bowen, kept Cambridge hopes alive, but they couldn't string together enough bonuses to catch back up.

Southampton 135 - 120 Newnham

Southampton, Bristol and Holloway have all already played Durham (I wonder if this is the first time that has happened in UC history), so I have no idea how I would begin correcting my diagram. Good luck to all the semi-finalists, whatever the matchups.

And commiserations to Newnham, who have been a delight to watch all series. They've played six times, winning three and losing three, which is an achievement in itself, and they did so while having a great deal of fun, which is a lesson to us all, I think. They also had an excellent colour scheme going on for this episode in particular.

Also, I was serious earlier about sending you my novel. If you have any interest in a novel about a social media conspiracy then drop me a line and I'll send it over.