Students ready to face Challenge

Exeter will once again be aiming for victory in the latest series of University Challenge, after reaching the quarter-finals in last year’s competition.

Although Exeter’s team was defeated by a strong Sheffield University team last year, the new team hope that they will fare better.

This year’s team consists of team captain Richard Stearn,a second-year Philosophy and Political Economy student; Katy Limmer, a part time doctorate student in Film Studies; Tom Pugh, in his third year of Philosophy and Politics; and Jacob Funnell, a second-year Conservation Biology and Ecology student at the Cornwall Campus. Ali Board, who is studying for a Masters in Education, will be the reserve.

Internal trials took place in early March this year, where several hundred candidates were tested. From here, the ten students who achieved full marks were selected, and seven of these ten then progressed to a qualifying round at the University of West England.

The team was then put together based on Exeter’s top four scorers in this qualifier.

Exeter’s cumulative score, taken from these four contestants, was then used in comparison with over 150 other UK institutions, who all undertook a similar process.

As a result, Exeter progressed to the televised stage of the competition by ranking in the top 24 universities.

Team member Jacob Funnell, has also set a new benchmark by becoming the first ever member of the Exeter University Challenge team to be based at the Tremough campus.

He said, “It’s all in the balance now - it’s dependent on the strength of the team we’re up against and how far the questions play to our strengths, but I think we’ll put in a good show.

“The team last year were very good and will be a hard act to follow, but we’ll give it our best shot.”

Speaking on Exeter’s chances, captain Richard Stearn told Exeposé, “We’re pretty confident as a team having come so far already and are all very proud to be representing Exeter.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to do one better than last year and reach the final, which would fulfil a childhood dream for most of us! It’s going to be tough, though, and we’re going to need all the support we can get. But at least we’ve finally got something important to revise for!”

The first round takes place on the 19th June in Manchester, although Exeter are still waiting to discover who will be drawn as their first opponent in the competition.