Triple Blue Hedges wins third varsity title

Isle of Man gymnast Alex Hedges was in action again this month, this time representing the University of Cambridge in the prestigious varsity match against Oxford University.

It is the third year he has attended the event, and now in the final year of his degree he was able to achieve the gold medal yet again making it a hat-trick of wins - despite the strongest competition yet.

It is a major event within the Oxbridge calendar and until Alex became a team member Cambridge had not won for many years. As well as being a member of the team, Alex was team manager and team coach.

This year's event was in the elite surroundings of Huntingdon Olympic Gymnastics Club, home of the top gymnasts Britain has to offer and some of GB's best medal hopes for Beijing.

Mathew Bullimore, the Oxford captain and a member of Huntingdon, was one of the top competitors in Britain not long ago and has also claimed the gold medal at the BUSA championships for Oxford. This year he was aided by the efforts of Simon Haenni; recently a member of the Swiss national squad. The very impressive Oxford team managed to re-take the team title from Cambridge this year, Cambridge having won it last year for
the first time in 4 years.

Despite a typical clean and solid performance from Bullimore and some spectacular skills shown by Haenni, Alex's competitive experience and his stylish, exciting work proved unbeatable and he was crowned the individual champion for the third year running. His exceptional score of 85.1 over the 6 pieces of apparatus was well clear of second place and also well above the target score to receive a Cambridge Blue: the highest sporting
accolade the university can give. Alex has been awarded one in every year of his degree, making him a 'Triple Blue'.