Oxford Brookes Annual Taurus Dinner

On Saturday night, the Oxford Brookes annual dinner took place in Phyllis Court, Henley-on-Thames. It was cohosted by Taurus – OBUBCs alumni. A great evening was had by all, celebrating the last years success of the boat club. Particularly the meteoric rise of the women’s team and last seasons success at Henley Royal Regatta. Around 160 current and ex-Brookes rowers attended the event, in regatta dress.

The event took place after the Head of the River, which happened earlier in the day, where Brookes broke a course record that had previously stood since 1987. This crew was coxed by Harry Brightmore, who became Senior World Champion last year in the British National VIII. Harry was the speaker for the evenings event and was hugely inspirational for the younger athletes in the audience.

The award winners for the evening were:
Women’s Rower of the Year – Jenny Bates
Men’s Rower of the Year – Matt Heywood & Jack Prior
Fresher of the Year – Rhianna Sumpter
Taurus Award – Phoebe Fletcher

The boat clubs success has been largely down to the huge support from the Director of Sport, Keith Kelly as well as the rest of the team at Brookes Sport. Last summer, the new women’s shell was named after him. After a very successful winter of training and racing, OBUBC return this week with large aims for the approaching summer season.

A special thank you should go to Beth Dutton who played a huge part in organising the dinner. Thank you to Rory Cruickshank for capturing the evenings events. Thank you also to the continued support from Pete Lowe, James Symington and the rest of the Taurus community