Students from leading European universities compete in the Idea League Sports Event 2007

Imperial hosts annual competition and comes a close second - News

Wednesday 20 June 2007
By Naomi Weston

The annual IDEA League sports event came to Imperial College London last week with over 100 students from TU Delft, ETH Zurich, RWTH Aachen and Imperial, taking part in a range of sporting activities. The sporting event ran from Wednesday 13 June till Friday 15 June.

From Taekwondo and fencing to badminton and a fitness challenge, the students competed against each other, with Imperial and RWTH Aachen neck and neck all the way. The fitness challenge comprised of a relay running race, a 3km swim, a 30km cycle ride and a 10km row. In the end with only half a point difference, Aachen won. ETH Zurich came third and TU Delft came fourth. An awards presentation dinner was held on Thursday 14 June in a giant marquee on Imperial’s Queen’s Lawn. The dinner was attended by Sir Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College, as well as the Deputy Rector, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz and many other Imperial colleagues as well as some of the event’s sponsors and other guests.

The London Challenge was the final aspect of the IDEA League sports event. All the students from the different universities were split into 16 teams and had to visit ten London key locations including Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and Nelson’s Column.

The teams were given a clue at each location to help them identify an international sports personality and the first team to guess at ten clues won the challenge. The event was designed to give visiting participants a chance to see some of London’s famous sights and experience the capital for themselves, as well as engage in some more friendly competition.

The badminton competition took place in Imperial’s state-of-the-art sports centre, Ethos and involved student teams playing for 15 minutes, with the team with the most points after that time declared the winner. Physics MSc student, Wencke Hansen, from Aachen was taking part and is captain of the university’s badminton team back in Germany. "I took part in the IDEA League sports event two years ago but it is much better this year. I have only been to London once before but I haven’t had much time for sightseeing because I have been supporting my team at all the events."

The IDEA League sports event continues next year with ETH Zurich hosting the activities.