The annual Corpus Challenge is set to return on 23 February, following its cancellation last year.

Each year, students from Corpus Christi Cambridge compete against those from Corpus Christi Oxford in various sporting events. The challenge has been an annual tradition since 1997.

However, the 2024 Corpus Challenge was cancelled due to student misbehaviour during the 2023 event.

The Oxford students pillaged Corpus Cambridge’s JCR, stealing pool cues, light bulbs and a box of items which included a key photo of Boris Johnson’s son, Theodore Apollo. They failed in an attempt to take a water fountain.

JCR Harley Summers, president of the JCR, described the “chaos” of 2023 which involved the Cambridge college’s Bene’t the Bear being “hung, drawn and quartered” by Oxford students.

The Corpus challenge is labelled by the Cambridge College’s JCR website as “one of the most fun days of the year” that is intended to remain a “light-hearted event” despite the rivalry.

It involves students competing in various sporting challenges, including hockey, football, lacrosse and netball, as well as bar sports such as pool and darts. There have also been non-sporting competitions including pharmacology challenges and a legal moot.

The cancellation last year led to a “re-imagining” of the tradition, with Corpus JCR and MCR competing against each other. This year’s reinstated challenge will take place in Corpus Christi College Oxford.

The JCR president told Varsity “The JCR is pretty excited about the event returning after temporary ban. We are hoping that we can put the past behind us – not the timeless rivalry though, we’re still gonna thrash them!”

Summers acknowledged the events of 2023, in which Bene’t the Bear was “viciously obliterated”. However, “he will be making a cheerful return to Oxf*rd; so, if we can return home with him (in one piece) holding the Corpus Cup, that would be a dream.”

Alex Lee, Corpus Cambridge’s JCR Sports and Society Officer commented that “Now that everyone is aware that stealing could lead to the event being cancelled again, I am certain that there won’t be any repeats of 2023. It would be a travesty for future cohorts of Corpus students to miss out on the Corpus Challenge as we did last year.”

Summers added that Corpus Cambridge JCR is “thankful to our Sports and Socs Officers for arranging the event and are proud of the revolutionaries who hung on to the tradition last year amidst the ban, raising £4k for Gaza as a result.”