̽��ֱ��

Sam Cutts (Emmanuel) is a Full Blue and Captain of the ̽��ֱ�� Riding Club. In the past year she has also :

• Become British National Student Riding Champion

• Been selected for the British Student Riding Team

• Won Individual showjumping Gold at the International in Germany last October

• Came 18th in the British National Under-25 Championships

• Been shortlisted for the British Under-21 Eventing team, before having to withdraw due to an injured horse

• Qualified for the British Open Championships

• Qualified for CCI**** (Concours Complet Internationale 4 Star), an international qualification for the highest level of eventing in the world

Ospreys Chair Karen Pearce paid tribute to Sam as she presented the award at the annual Ospreys dinner at Trinity College, also singling out various teams in what she said had been “a good year for the Ospreys". There have been wins against Oxford for Cambridge women in badminton, basketball, karate, cross country, swimming, waterpolo, netball 2nds and hockey.

Teams were singled out at another Ospreys event this month when six kit bursary cash awards were handed out by Ospreys sponsor Citigroup Ltd.

̽��ֱ��awards, to help ̽��ֱ��-level women's teams purchase new kit for team members, have been made annually since 2002 by Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking.. To date the firm have made awards to 53 teams totalling £25,000. Managing Director Mark Todd (Queens 1990 – 93) presented awards to representatives from lawn tennis, real tennis, riding, swimming and waterpolo, sailing and cricket.

Georgina Hamilton (Jesus) from the Lawn Tennis Club said: “We are incredibly grateful for another year of Citigroup support for women's sport at Cambridge. As many of our members are new this year we had no kit. It makes such a difference to look more professional. It is great for team spirit and a real boost as we look towards a packed summer of fixtures, culminating in the Varsity Match at the Queen's Club in London on 26 and 27 June.”

Originally founded in 1985, the Ospreys is a sporting and social club for female athletes. There are now more than 1600 current and alumnae members, all of whom have been awarded Blues, Half Blues or Second Team Colours for having represented the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge at huge diversity of sports.

Cambridge women students have been competing in sport at local, national and international level since the foundation of Girton and Newnham Colleges over a century ago. However, despite the fact that women at the ̽��ֱ�� now compete in over 41 sports from rugby to fencing and that, in general, the ‘performance gap' between men and women athletes is closing rapidly, talented Cambridge sportswomen still have fewer opportunities, less recognition and less support then their male counterparts. ̽��ֱ��Ospreys work to improve this imbalance.

̽��ֱ��Junior Ospreys Committee is a sporting and social focus for current female athletes in Cambridge and works together with the Senior Committee, formed in 1998, and a newly established London Committee, to address the issues facing the Ospreys, raise the profile of women's sports in Cambridge and help to establish a clear identity for the Ospreys within Cambridge's sporting community.

̽��ֱ��Ospreys' Senior Committee's purpose is to promote the education of women students at Cambridge, including their physical education; to provide a forum for women's sports; to forge links between current Cambridge athletes and alumnae; to raise funds for women's sports, organise events and create a permanent base where women athletes can meet.

̽��ֱ��pursuit of excellence means that, in the first instance, the focus will be on supporting women Blues, Half-Blues, Second-Team Colours and Sports Captains, with the longer term objective of expanding support for women's sport at all levels.

̽��ֱ��Ospreys clubroom on Jesus Lane was opened by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard, last year.