University have vied for supremacy, but in recent years, Strathclyde University, Robert Gordon University, Dundee University, and the University of St. Andrews have risen to prominence. Clubs compete in various competitions, both cup and league, on a national and also North/South basis. While the top Premier Division has been played on a Scotland-wide basis since 1996, the lower leagues are based on geography. Many clubs run second teams that also compete in these leagues against clubs with only one senior side. Season Shinty was traditionally played through the winter, based around the tradition of the "Iomain Challainn", where New Year was marked by a game between neighbouring parishes. The summer was left free for seasonal work and friendly tournaments. The Winter season always ran over, however, and many teams would find themselves finishing the previous season only weeks before the next one would start. In 2003, shinty clubs voted for a trial period of two years of a summer season from March to October, with a view to moving permanently to summer shinty if the experiment was judged to be a success. Despite opposition from the "Big Two", Kingussie and Newtonmore, and other small groups in the game, an EGM in November 2005 voted by an overwhelming majority (well over the required two thirds) to make summer shinty the basis upon which the game would proceed. There have been teething problems since the move to summer shinty, with a couple of teams being culpable for the season running over into November and December. Season 2010 saw the league season finished by the first weekend in October, almost on schedule. Shinty does still get played during the winter, in University Shinty which has teams compete for the second most valuable trophy in Scottish sport – the Littlejohn Vase – and in New Year fixtures, the most prestigious of which is the Lovat Cup, played between Beauly and Lovat. Leagues For more information, see Shinty league system League shinty was originally organised on a regional basis, with distinct competitions for the North District and at one time, two separate leagues for Argyll (the Dunn League) and the Southern League, for clubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. Over time, there have been moves to amalgamate leagues and, since the 1980s, a push for national competition at the highest levels. In the modern era of league shinty, Kingussie have been unsurpassed