NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- This week, a group of Yale athletes will team up with their Harvard counterparts as part of the Achilles Transatlantic Tour Harvard-Yale squad. This combined squad will head firstly to the University of Birmingham for three days, staying with student hosts at their dorms. They will then travel to the historic University of Oxford, followed by Cambridge University, and eventually return to London for a last day of sight-seeing. The trip organizers and hosting English universities have kindly curated a fun-filled itinerary for the traveling students. Having met some of the Oxford and Cambridge students when they visited America earlier in the year, the traveling cohort will no doubt enjoy spending time with friends old and new.
Over the course of the trip, the Harvard-Yale team will compete at two meets, the first of which will be held on Saturday the 24
th at Birmingham. The meet is officially labeled as the "Ivy Meet", as a mixed Penn and Cornell team are also competing in England alongside Birmingham. The following Wednesday, the highly anticipated HYOC meet will take place, with the Harvard-Yale team battling directly against their British Oxford-Cambridge counterparts. This meet dates back to 1894, and the Harvard-Yale team has won the last 14 meetings -- including the edition held earlier this year at Harvard. After the HYOC competition concludes there will be a reception (open to visiting and local alumni) and a banquet for the competing student-athletes.
This trip has been long awaited and a cause of great excitement for current Bulldogs. Due to Covid cancelations, the last time the meet was held in England was in June of 2019, before Yale's current graduating class had even started at Yale. This has been a trip held in high esteem by previous athletes and current coaches, and after a tough selection policy, those that were fortunate enough to be invited will be raring to go. It is typically held every other year, alternating between the United States and the U.K.
Although the meets themselves are of course important, the emphasis of this trip is really a cultural exchange with English universities and students. After a long, testing collegiate season, the Bulldogs will now enjoy a trip of lifelong memories. Those selected Bulldogs are undoubtedly privileged to attend and represent the university internationally.
With promises of BBQs, sunny summer practices and even "punting" on the Oxbridge rivers, the Yale team will have plenty of fun and lots to write about over the 10 day trip. Stay tuned for updates.
The full list of traveling athletes:
