The Varsity March

The annual Varsity March is an 81 mile walk between Oxford and Cambridge, completed in under 48 hours. The route passes through five counties (Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire) over public footpaths and quiet country roads. Stops are made for meals (in pubs where possible) and for short breaks, but we continue walking through the night without sleep!

The Varsity March has been taking place since 1998, with a break in 2001 due to Foot & Mouth disease and 2020 due to Covid-19. All Marches have been completed successfully, although not all participants have walked the full distance. We encourage you to join us and support those walking the full distance, even if you only plan to walk 20 miles or less!

The 2024 walk will be taking place on the 22-23rd June. It is possible to walk either the full march or shorter sections. In particular, the initial 23 mile section from Oxford to Aylesbury constitutes a convenient day walk - many walkers join for this part and return to Cambridge from Aylesbury on the Saturday evening.

Being sponsored (even if only a short part of the march is planned to be walked) is encouraged but is also entirely optional. Traditionally, we raise money for Jimmy's Night Shelter in Cambridge and the Gatehouse homelessness charity in Oxford. The fundraising page for the 2024 Varsity March can be found here.

Below is a list of most of the walkers who have completed the entire walk each year. If we've missed you and you'd like to be added email rambling@cambridgesu.co.uk with your name and year of completion.

1998: Matthew Ford & others
1999: David Barden, Matthew Ford & others
2000: Matthew Ford & others
2001: No walk due to Foot & Mouth disease
2002: Matthew Ford & others
2003: Alan, John, Matthew Ford, Rachel Waterman & others
2004: Matthew Ford & others
2005: Victoria Gregson, Laurence Morris & Dylan the Sheep
2006: Victoria Gregson, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2007: Sam Cane, Victoria Gregson, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2008: Sam Cane, Jacob Davis, Matthew Ford, Victoria Gregson, Dan Hickstein, David Richards, Stephanie Smith, Barney Stratford & Dylan the Sheep
2009: Sam Cane, Matthew Ford, Victoria Gregson, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2010: Sam Cane, Matthew Ford, Laurie Griffiths, Olaf Kahler, Tom Skinner, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2011: Marc Fielder, Matthew Ford, Yifan Huang, Alan Iwi, Chris O'Neill, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2012: Matthew Ford, Daniel Paine, Stephanie Smith, Dylan the Sheep & 2 others
2013: Matthew Ford, Trisha Hutchinson, Alec Maynard, James Neuhaus, Stephanie Smith, Theodosia Woo & Dylan the Sheep
2014: Andrew Elliot, Marc Fielder, Matthew Ford, Mira Nair, Razvan Ranca, Marta Sarzynska, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2015: Sam Cane, Paul Cutmore, Matthew Ford, Mira Nair, Nigel Pamenter, Razvan Ranca, Stephanie Smith, Te Su & Dylan the Sheep
2016: Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2017: Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2018: Adam Ashing, Tom Comerford, Aneesh Naik, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2019: Hannah Cornwall, John Lewis, Ashley Pennington, Vincent Thuard, Shruti Dhaundiyal, Adam Ashing, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2020: No walk due to Covid-19
2021: Jack Lynch, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2022: Elizabeth Barsotti, Stephanie Smith, Gordon, Melanie, Pierre & Dylan the Sheep
2023: Dominika Baerova, Will Brown, Ben Keener, Justin Muchnick, Tommy Roberts, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep
2024: Tommy Roberts, Stephanie Smith & Dylan the Sheep