The annual competition, organised by the Oxford University Cross Country Club (OUCCC), draws cross country teams from across the University and Oxfordshire running clubs to race a 7km route around the city in four-leg relays. The relays, held in Week 8, start and end at the Iffley Road Sports Track, and take in the Oxford Canal, Christchurch Meadow and High Street. This year, 612 runners took part, from 153 teams.
The Jesus College mixed relay team (l-r) Louis Bilboul, Mared Owen, Rhiannon Paton, and Jack Forrest.
Jesus’ team, comprising Mared Owen, Louis Bilboul, Rhiannon Paton, and Jack Forrest, completed the course in a gold-winning time of 1h 43 minutes, with all four 7km legs completed within a minute if one another. They also placed second overall across the mixed team events.
Rhiannon, the University’s cross country women’s captain, said, “As captain this year, I was keen to bring out a strong college team, and as the results suggest, Jesus College is currently pretty formidable in the running scene!”
The team’s times were;
Leg 1- Mared Owen: 25:51
Leg 2- Louis Bilboul: 26:24
Leg 3- Rhiannon Paton: 26:04
Leg 4- Jack Forrest: 25:33
For all the Teddy Hall Relays results, visit the OUCCC website here.
Your film should primarily emphasise what Jesus College means to you as a student. The film can be any genre, and while it can include shots of broader Oxford activities and locations – including key city sights, as well as activities like punting and sports outside of College – the main focus should be on showcasing the impact that being a Jesubite has on your life.
Entry is open to all current Jesus students, both individuals and groups of students. Unleash your creative potential, whether solo or as a collaborative team!
The videographer or team of the winning film will receive a prize of £500, with £300 and £200 awarded to those in second and third places respectively.
Please be aware that the College intends to make the films publicly available, and so they should be suitable for audiences of all ages.
Please note that College reserves the right:
All films to be submitted by 31st May 2024. All submissions will be reviewed by a judging panel, and the results will be announced in June. Late submissions will not be considered.
Video Format:
Films should be submitted in a commonly accepted video format such as MP4, MOV, or AVI. Please ensure compatibility with standard digital video players for easy viewing.
Resolution and Aspect Ratio:
Videos should have a minimum resolution of 1080p (1920×1080 pixels) for high-definition quality.
Please use a standard aspect ratio such as 9:16 or 16:9 to ensure both vertical and horizontal format at your discretion.
Audio Quality:
Please ensure clear and high-quality audio with minimal background noise. Use external microphones if necessary to capture better sound quality.
Subtitles:
All films must include subtitles in English.
File Size:
Please compress the video file to a reasonable size without significantly compromising the visual and audio quality.
Large files may take longer to upload and download, so please optimise the file size accordingly.
Credits and Titles:
Please include opening and closing credits with essential information, such as the film title, student names, roles, and any credits for music, images, or external content used.
Duration:
The films should last a maximum of five minutes (including opening and closing credits).
Film description
Each competition entry must include a logline providing a brief description of the film’s content.
Permissions and Releases
To comply with data regulations, it is important you get consent from everyone who features in your video for their image to be used, to explain how it will be used, and for how long the film will be publicly available to view. To simplify this process, you can use this form to gain consent from anyone featured in the film.
However, if you are filming larger group activities, for example a wide shot of students in the JCR, you do not need individual consent, however should ensure that the group is aware that they are being filmed in advance and for what purpose, and make sure not to record anyone who does not wish to appear in the film.
Submission process:
Please complete the online submission form, and then upload your work on any type of cloud online storage and send the link to your video to Anna Ponomarenko, Alumni Communications, Events & Graduations Officer, at anna.ponomarenko@jesus.ox.ac.uk.
All competition submissions will be stored in an internal storage, accessible only to the competition judging panel and the Communications , Events & Graduations Officer.
Please contact Anna, if you have any questions regarding the submission process.
Promotion
All participants are welcome to share their filmmaking processes on social media at their discretion, using #jesusfilm24 as a hashtag.
The $480k (£380k) gift will enable to the College to fund the creation of several new spend-down posts:
This gift builds on Mr Richey’s previous generous support to College, which includes a £1m gift to endow of a graduate studentship at Jesus in any subject, and the naming of the Buchanan Tower Room in honour of alumnus and First World War hero Captain Angus Buchanan VC.
The provision of funding for additional early career fellowships, academic skills training for students, research associations and graduate studentships, will support key academic priorities for the College. In addition to continuing their research while at Jesus, the Nelson J. Carr CDF in Academic Skills Support will be responsible for developing and delivering a programme of skills-based training for both undergraduate and graduate students, and especially for those who join the College from disadvantaged backgrounds or without English as a first language. Training will include topics such as time-management, writing, giving presentations, reading and note-taking, and how to approach assessed work. The establishment of the Earle J. Richey Digital Access Officer post will enable Jesus’ Access and Outreach team to enhance its production of digital content to reach more prospective students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Jesus students will benefit hugely from Mr Richey’s new gift to College.
Photo credit: Andrew Ogilvy
In naming the new posts, Mr Richey wishes to acknowledge the vital role family history and benefaction has played in his own achievements. Richey explains, “I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my grandfather, Earle Jacob Richey, and his business partner and brother-in-law, Nelson J. Carr. These gifts are a way of expressing that gratitude. Nelson J. Carr, of Osage, Cherokee, and European descent, provided the capital to start Richey and Carr’s Rexall, a local pharmacy and general store in Erie, Kansas, in the 1920’s, while my grandfather provided the knowledge and labor. While his formal education ended at age 12 when his family was left bereft, having been abandoned by their husband and father, Earle was apprenticed out as a shop boy in a nearby town, and studied on his own time and became a licensed pharmacist. That Richey and Carr store provided the income that put my own father and three of his brothers through college during the 1930s and 1940s, which were hard times to raise, educate, and provide for children.
The store finally closed in the early 2000s, having provided three generations of Richeys a good base from which to start. Its longevity is a testament to the value that Earle placed upon education and family. He was a very bright man who just lacked the opportunity in terms of formal education to hone his intelligence. Ultimately, it was Nelson’s generosity and Earle’s hard work that meant my father got his college education, and provided me with the opportunity to attend and obtain a degree from Oxford University. It is my hope that these gifts likewise provide a path of opportunity to others.”
He adds, “I also want to honor those two men because of the emphasis they placed on family; having held families together through the Great Depression, as well as the Osage murders, though each came from less than ideal family upbringings.”
Nelson J Carr
The creation of ten new Dr Sara Hope Browne Research Associates in Medical Sciences will be available to scholars at Oxford without a specific College affiliation, and are named in honour of Mr Richey’s wife. Dr Browne M.D. is an Emeritus Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She received her undergraduate education at the University of Cape Town, RSA and her medical degree from the University of Oxford School of Medicine. She has a Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard University School of Public Health, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. She completed her UK license at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, and has also founded a charity, Specialists in Global Health, which is dedicated to training doctors in developing countries, in specialties of medicine. Mr Richey says, “Sara’s main focus is on Global Health. The named Research Associates at Jesus are a meaningful way to connect her medical legacy and Oxford training to College.”
The match-funded four-year DPhil Studentship in Computer Science is given in the name of Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt FRS, who has been Jesus College Principal since 2015, and is a world-leading expert in computer and data sciences. Mr Richey also noted, “It is important to acknowledge Sir Nigel’s monumental contribution to both the physical and intellectual expansion of the College. His tenure as Principal has firmly placed Jesus College at the center of the future of the University. I am honored to be able to attach his name to this DPhil scholarship in Computer Science.”
Dr Brittany Wellner-James, Jesus College Director of Development, reflected, “We are enormously grateful to Chris and the Richey Family Foundation for their continued generosity to College, and for this transformational gift to further support our academic priorities”.
The new posts will commence in Michaelmas 2024.
Here, she tell us about her inspiration for the work, how consideration for students influenced her design choices, and the challenges of working on such a large (and high-up) scale.
Grace Exley, Library Assistant and artist, in front of her new Meyricke Mural. Credit: Marc West
How did the commission come about Grace?
The Meyricke Library used to be home to the College’s science labs, and as any Jesus undergraduate will know, it’s a hotchpotch of different spaces on different levels. The Upper Myericke combines a large double-height room with leaded-light windows, and a small mezzanine where we keep our collection of (subject) books. In the main room, we have a special ladder so students can access books on higher shelves, but there is a limit on how far they can stretch to reach those books safely. This meant that, given the double-height of the library, there were significant areas of bare wall on show, and Owen (McKnight, Jesus College Librarian) wanted to find a creative way to cover them up. So we had a chat about what might be possible, and the idea of painting a mural emerged.
What was your starting point for the design of the mural?
I’d been working on some ideas for an artwork for a wall at home, and thought it might look good in the library. I like early 20th century art movements such as Futurism, Soviet Constructivism and German expressionism; specifically the geometry and colour palettes used by the artists. So the mural design started with some doodling on graph paper, and using a compass, to build up a geometric pattern. I also knew that Owen had studied Mathematics at St Catherine’s, and thought he might like the use of geometry in the composition. Once I was happy with my design, I used Photoshop to mockup an image of the mural in situ to show him, and he really liked it.
The new Meyricke Mural
Did the library space itself play a role in your choice of pattern and colour?
I was mindful that the mural would need to be in keeping with the overall style of the Meyricke Library. Although the building in which the library is housed dates from the early 1900s, the library itself has undergone several refurbishments since, and has the feel of the 1970s about it! So I didn’t want to create something that would clash with that.
The student experience was also a factor. Geometric patterns don’t have a narrative, so lend themselves to contemplation. I didn’t want students studying in the library to be distracted by the art, but rather it become a gentle focus for concentration. There are no repeating patterns for that reason too. The student use extended to the colour palette I chose too; the soft browns and creams compliment the colours of the surrounding woodwork, so blend in rather than stand out. I left some areas of the pattern bare, to show the original woodwork, which also worked really well.
The Meyricke Library is a popular study space in College.
With so much blank wall to cover, did it take you a long time to complete the mural?
I began the artwork at the start of August (with Owen’s permission) as most students are on vacation then so it’s usually pretty quiet. After drawing out the full design in pencil, I used standard interior emulsion paint to fill in the pattern, beginning with the lighter sections. It’s really important that the mural has longevity, so I wanted to do a professional job. Each section required several coats of paint (and a steady hand) to make the lines look crisp, and climbing up and standing at the top of the library ladder to paint each day was pretty challenging, but it was worth it.
Grace worked on the new mural over the summer vacation.
And you filmed the whole process?
Yes, I set up a time-lapse camera to record the painting of the mural, moving it regularly as I worked along the walls. I’m excited to be able to share the film with everyone. What you can’t see in the film, but is important to mention, is that the mural is dedicated to Owen and all the students of Jesus College.
WATCH THE FILM
Now completed and on show, what kind of feedback have you had about the mural?
College staff were the first to see the new artwork after I’d finished it (although many had popped along to see the work in progress during August). We hosted a special open afternoon in early September in the Upper Meyricke, and people took pictures, and everyone was so kind in their comments. Now our students are back, and they love it too.
 ?>){kind=icon}
