Student Opportunities Officer, Tiff & Welsh Culture Officer & UMCA President, Elain take a look back at the key events for our Aber community’s calendar:
AberChallenge
10th – 12th November 2023
AberChallenge saw 10 teams compete against each other in a quiz, scavenger hunt, mario kart, beer pong, pool, a mystery event, and more. The weekend was filled with fun and every day ended with a different team in the lead, but eventually saw AberCrafts take the win, and two teams from AberSnow (Powder to the People and Powder Puff Girls) take joint second! Mystery Event saw a team member of The Math Magicians complete it in the fastest time since AberChallenge started, and the MVP of the weekend was crowned - Peta-Kay won the coveted free entry to Superteams and a guaranteed team for their club. The weekend ended with a Domino's Pizza Party and raving reviews.
SocsFest
25th November 2023
SocsFest - Varsity but for societies! This year saw Paranormal Society and Islamic Society travel up to Bangor for the day to run some joint events, promote community and have a good time!
ArtsFest
4th – 8th December 2023
ArtsFest is a celebration of the arts and entertainment sectors in our lives! Every year, we offer a week's worth of opportunities to express your creative side, and this year saw a christmas card making action afternoon, zine making, model painting, a pantomime, poetry, felt making, a craft exhibition and a dance showcase hosted by your Opportunities Officer and organised by K-Pop! Overall, an extremely successful week of celebrating all things arty!
EmpowerAber
February 2024
We successfully collaborated with the Women in Research Network to create an accreditation to recognise research conducted by women and non-binary members of staff. A social media campaign followed with all nominees using our template and logo to give the important work being done a wider reach. We had around 70 in attendance at the Award Ceremony, and it was a great way to kick off International Womens Day! #EmpowerAber also saw a month worth of events from student groups and free classes in the sports centre, as well as collaborations with the alumni office and careers department.
Superteams
9th – 11th February & 16th – 18th of February 2024
2024 Superteams was definitely one for the history books! 2 weekends, 56 teams sold out in minutes, 20 events, 2 chaotic afterparties and many interesting liquids later, we saw teams compete to be crowned 2024 Superteams Champions! The events this year, started as always, with swimming, waterpolo, bleep test, and tug of war on the Friday. On Saturday, teams battled it out in basketball, futsal and tag rugby. And on Sunday, gym test, hurdles, campus mile and the infamous mystery event. They brought back several classic team names like "Chicks with Sticks," "Kinky Kooks," "Team Win," and "He touched my rim." Consistency was the theme of the Women's weekend, with the top 10 teams staying mostly the same the whole weekend, and “Earps I did it again” taking an early lead and keeping it. However, the Men's weekend was exactly the opposite, with every day ending with a different winner! Eventually, “Back by Popular Demand” took the victory! Meaning both weekends were won by members of our football teams!
Inter College Eisteddfod
2nd March 2024
On the second of March UMCA won the Inter College Eisteddfod 2024. This was the first time for Aberystwyth to win the shield since 2015 so everyone is still in high spirits.
Final score:
Aberystwyth 651
Bangor 634
Swansea 200
Cardiff142
Manchester 20
Varsity
16th March 2024
Varsity 2024! What a day it was! As the Opps officer, I have never been prouder to be an Aberystwyth student! Varsity isn’t just one day though, we started strong with Archery a whole week before the big day. By the next day, it was 4 - 4. Going into the Varsity day, we were down by one, but we kept a consistent draw throughout the day and kept Bangor students, and staff sweating. Bangor came to Aberystwyth feeling cocky, but this year we gave them an incredible run for their money! Our winning clubs were: Archery, Sailing, Pool, Equestrian (continuing their 11-year streak), Surf, Women’s Basketball, Mountain Biking, Men’s and Women’s Volleyball, Women’s Hockey, Harriers, Badminton x3, Women’s Football, Futsal and smashing out of the park with the final event: Men’s Football! Not forgetting our wins by default: Women’s Fencing, Men’s Rugby, and American Football! A massive congratulations to all of these groups for their incredible hard work, dedication and resilience to Bangor’s kazoos.
The final score was Aber 20 - 21 Bangor! But we always win the moral victory as amazing supporters of our teams!
You can also read the BUCS round up here: BUCS End of Year Article (abersu.co.uk)