York through to University Challenge second round

The University of York University Challenge team has made it through to the second round of the competition after beating Trinity Laban 185-105.

In the first show of the series, the York team of Alex Leonhardt, Robin Virgo, Edward Haynes and captain Rebecca Wood put in a solid performance to get past the London team representing the conservatoire of music and dance.

©BBC, Phil Fisk; Image credit: BBC

Whilst the result was not unexpected against first-timers selected from a student body of only 1,000, York won comfortably and they fell behind only once during the programme, before dominating the final ten minutes to secure their passage to the next round.

During the show, host Jeremy Paxman referenced some of York's notable alumni such as Anthony Horowitz and Harriet Harman as well as the Duck of the Day Facebook Group.

He described York's success as a "very convincing performance", whilst congratulating York's opponents, adding that "anything over 100 is a very respectable score".

This year's competition features 28 teams, selected from around 100 applicants. Paxman added that students compete "solely for fun, for glory and to prove taxpayers money is well spent on education."

Last year York were knocked out in the first round by University College London. The year before, captained by popular history student Andrew Clemo, the York team acheived their best ever result when they made the final but were defeated by Magdalen College, Oxford.

YUSU President Kallum Taylor congratulated the team, saying: "They'll have their work cut out to escape the shadows of Clemo, Keane et al but it was great to see them power through in those last ten minutes to the end so convincingly!"