Well done Vic

Congrats to Victoria University Debating Society who won last night the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Champs. As I blogged previously, they have been going on at Auckland over the past week with around 100 teams from all over Asia, NZ and Australia.

NZ had five teams make the octo-finals – the most in at least twenty years. Three NZ teams went onto make the semifinals, knocking out universities like Monash and Sydney who are the traditional heavyweights.

Victoria One faced Victoria Two in the semi-finals ensuring at least one Vic team would be in the final. Vic One emerged victorious. This reminded me of sporting contests in Dunedin when often the two leading teams would be Otago Uni A and Otago Uni B!

Auckland 2 defeated Melbourne I in the other semi ensuring a very rare all-NZ final!

Vic One affirmed ‘That the ICC should be able to prosecute for crimes against the earth’. They beat Auckland in  an 8-1 decision.

It is the first time NZ has won Australs since 1998 (when Vic won). It is Vic’s fourth Australs victory since 1975.

It is particularly great for Vic because they have reached the final in two of the last three years – losing closely each time (6-3 in 2007 and 5-4 in 2009).

The Vic One team is Udayan Mukherjee, Stephen Whittington, Ella Edginton.

Stephen was also the best speaker in the Grand Final and the second best speaker of the tournament (out of 300).  It is his third Australs Grand Final appearance, believed to be a record. Well done Stephen.