#ActiveAtOxford Campaign

In February 2022, we launched another round of our #ActiveAtOxford fundraising campaign and the response has been incredible once again. A huge thank you to all of the alumni and friends who have donated to this campaign so far, either to the central #ActiveAtOxford fund or to a club as part of the campaign. Without the support of this campaign, sport at Oxford would not have handled the Covid-19 restrictions so quickly and sport and physical activity would not have bounced back to where it is now.

Some of you may not know that #ActiveAtOxford is more than fundraising. As well as helping us raise much-needed and generously donated funds, it is also our student and staff facing campaign, which aims to get more people active every day.

The #ActiveAtOxford campaign has bounced back stronger than ever this year with lots of new ways for students to get active. We deliver new activities and initiatives every term and also use the campaign to encourage more participation in activities and opportunities that already exist, sometimes simply through more promotion, and sometimes by the removal of specific barriers to participation in that activity.

New for this year has included Roller Skating, Darts, Women's Rugby League, Mountain Biking and the return of the Motor Drivers' club, which has thrived, running sessions regularly through term and concluded the year with a massive turnout of 45 people at their cuppers event. Students can now find out about inter-college competitions more easily than ever through the new college and casual sport intranet site, which currently has 51 inter-college competitions listed and is ever expanding.

At the beginner level we have supported clubs such as Windsurfing, Yacht and Triathlon to improve their offering by funding more club-owned kit and breaking down the financial barrier to get into these sports. Rugby League, Rugby Fives and Canoe & Kayak have tackled another barrier by engaging with the #ThisGirlCan and #ShePaddles campaigns respectively, to encourage more female participation. The Rugby Fives Seconds beginner team even managed to beat Cambridge at their Varsity!

As well as opportunities for students, there have been termly opportunities specifically for staff and post-graduate students including badminton, tennis and football tournaments. In February a new ParkRun (a free, weekly timed 5km event) started at University Parks with the support of the Sports Federation and Oxford Students' Union. In January, members of the University signed up to beat those January blues with Red January and to study the impacts that a month's activity had on those individuals. Colleges were encouraged to try to cover as many miles as possible with the BRIT Challenge in February and March.

If you would still like to support the campaign, you can do so via the Active At Oxford Development Office webpage. Thank you for your continued support.