By Charlotte Carver, Match day reporter
The ‘Bristol Uni Boob Team’ undertook a varsity challenge on Strava against other university boob teams across the country throughout the month of February. The aim of the challenge was to clock as many kilometres on Strava as possible, to raise awareness about CoppaFeel!, the breast cancer awareness charity and to raise money for charity. The Bristol Uni Boob Team also offered the chance for the best Bristol athlete to win a Myga CoppaFeel! yoga mat.
CoppaFeel! ‘Are the first breast cancer charity in the UK to solely create awareness amongst young people, with the aim of instilling the knowledge and tools they need to get to know their bodies.’ CoppaFeel! are represented at the University of Bristol by the Bristol Uni Boob Team.
19 other UK universities also participated in the varsity challenge including, Bath, Cardiff, Exeter, Durham, Liverpool and Sheffield. There were also a variety of Bristol University societies taking part. These include, Tennis, Gymnastics, Athletics and Cross Country, Rowing, Latin and American Ballroom, Boxing, Women’s Cricket Club, Sailing, Women’s Football, American Football, Badminton, Medics Hockey, Swimming, and Cheer.
Having reached the end of their challenge, the society organised a regenerative yoga session for participants from all of the universities to take part in.
The Bristol Uni Boob Team set themselves the personal goal of achieving 800km and raising £800 for charity. They selected the number 8 because they like to call it the boob number. By the end of their challenge, the Bristol Uni Boob Team had completed 3136 kilometres and were in 10th position against the other universities. In total, however, the combined distance of all the universities was over 130,000 kilometres and they raised more than £10,000, of which the Bristol team contributed over £200.
Epigram spoke to Jasmine Murdoch, a member of the Bristol Uni Boob Team. When asked how the varsity challenge came about, Murdoch responded, ‘I got together with the UBT leader at Bath back in October and discussed how we could help each other this year as we were struggling to think of engaging activities… and we came up with the idea. We decided to ask the other unis if they wanted to get involved and it grew from there.’
Murdoch also described the benefits of keeping fit and healthy and how one of their aims this year was ‘To get people feeling their best selves’, so she thought the challenge fit nicely with this.
Organising multiple groups across different universities does come with challenges, however. Murdoch said, ‘The most difficult thing has been coordinating all the other universities, setting up a Strava group proved a bit challenging for some of them!’ although, there have not been many other issues to overcome.
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For Murdoch, the most important thing for people to take away from the challenge is ‘the importance of getting out and about for mental and more general health during lockdown, and to remember to check their boobs at least once a month!’.
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Congratulations to the Bristol Uni Boob Team who join the ranks of charitable sporting fundraisers at Bristol University! You can sign up for monthly reminders to check yourself from CoppaFeel! by texting ‘UBTBRS’ to 7050.
Featured image: Bristol Uni Boob Team
