Chris Tebb
HRR Win 28 – Temple Challenge Cup
What an end to an amazing year! OBUBC wins the Temple Challenge Cup for Student 8’s, having also won the Head of the River Race with an all-student crew, the BUCS Championship, and the National Championships. Through the early rounds, the VIII was tested by both tough opposition and adverse conditions, rowing into strong headwinds. Wednesday saw the crew hold their nerve against a fast-starting Dutch crew from Njord, Thursday comfortably dispatching Newcastle University. Friday and Saturday saw them break clear of two top American lightweight programs by halfway, from Columbia and Yale respectively, to book a place in the final against long-term rivals Harvard from the USA. Burying demons for coach Henry Bailhache-Webb, having
WHR Report & HRR Qualifiers
Every cloud has a silver lining, and that was certainly the case this year with Henley Women’s Regatta. Having won Senior 8’s last year, expectations were high for the repeat, and for the new depth in the squad to emulate the win in the Academic 8’s category. In the semi finals of both Academic and Senior 8’s, Brookes wowed the spectators by producing the most entertaining semis of the regatta – a local derby in Academic 8’s against Oxford, and a full-on boxing match against Princeton, USA in Senior 8’s. To be on the wrong side of two canvas-losses, while hugely frustrating, certainly fuels the fire for next season’s summer projects – for the
Divide and Conquer – Holland Beker to Metropolitan
For the first time ever, the Boat Club went to two separate regattas over the same weekend. Some crews went to the Holland Beker in the Netherlands, while others stayed UK-bound to race at the Metropolitan Regatta at the Dorney Lake Olympic venue. In Holland, the men’s squad came away with a strong set of results across different boat classes. The 4+ finished a very tight second to Orca, while the 4- came from the back of the field with a terrific last 500 to win gold, ahead of crews from Thames, Nereus and Cambridge. The men’s 1st VIII found themselves once again racing old foes Nereus and Leander, with the three crews overlapping on
Ghent Regatta brings stiff competition
This year saw probably the strongest field of entries in the last 7 years at the Ghent May Regatta in Belgium. With Essen, Duisburg and Ratzeburg cancelled due to conflicts with, and prioritising the German Olympic Trials, many a National squad, club and university crew chose to race at Ghent instead. Trialist crews from Germany, selected Swiss and Dutch crews turned up in force, making for a very exciting regatta. The Boat Club came away with a number of medals in both sweep and sculling disciplines, as well as winning the Victor Ludorum of the regatta for most successful all-round team. Imogen Mackie took 3rd in a strong Lw1x field, with Ollie’s
BUCS Regatta – Race Report
7 golds, 3 silvers and 5 bronze medals rounded off OBUBC’s best ever BUCS Regatta this weekend. Entering one of our largest squads to date, the boat club endured testing conditions over the 3 days of racing, to come away with wins in five Championship events – most notably both the Men’s and Women’s 8+ events. This is the first time ever BROOKES|Rowing have taken home both crowns, with the women’s 1st VIII winning theirs by an emphatic 10 seconds over Cambridge, London and Newcastle. Day 2 saw a flurry of medals in the space of 30 minutes, with OBUBC taking home gold in Women’s Championship 8’s, Men’s Championship 4- and 4+,
Brookes win Head of the River 2016
This weekend, BROOKES|Students made history by winning the Head of the River for the first time, and claiming the University pennant in the process. Having come close a number of times, the Headship hasn’t been won by a full student crew for over 50 years. Quoting British Rowing’s race report, “Leander started first, but it was clear from Hammersmith that Oxford Brookes were making the running. They had closed on #2 Molesey and had overtaken as they came to the start of the Fulham wall. The provisional results saw Oxford Brookes record their first ever headship in a time of 17 minutes and 34 seconds, nine seconds ahead of Leander. “This is a massive
Women excel at WeHoRR
Brookes’ women’s squad had a fantastic set of results at this weekend’s Women’s Head. Previous years has seen the top crew come 17th in 2014 with the IM3 pennant, 8th in 2015 with the IM2 pennant, and this year was no exception, picking up the IM1 pennant. The women’s squad had a strong showing from all 3 boats, culminating in the 1st Eight finishing a fantastic 4th overall out of 325 crews competing on the day. With the standard and field getting stronger and stronger every year, it’s great to see Brookes’ women constantly in the upper echelons and beating a lot of the top programs in the country. 7-seat Susie
Boat Club Success at Reading University Head
9 event titles and 81 medals completes another strong weekend of racing for OBUBC. As the Boat Club begins final preparations for Women’s Head this Saturday (March 5th) and the Head of the River (March 19th), this is a very encouraging show of speed and depth. The men’s squad produced 5 of the 7 fastest times of the day, with the women producing the fastest time of any women’s crew – including over BUCS Head-winners University of London. WINS: Men’s Elite 8+ Women’s Elite 8+ Men’s Senior 8+ Women’s Senior 8+ IM1 8+ W IM1 8+ IM2 8+ W IM2 8+ IM3 8+ Photos courtesy of Mark Ruscoe, and Iain
Men’s Fixture Report vs. Oxford
At 12pm on 21st February, Oxford Brookes University raced Oxford University in an official fixture for the Cancer Research UK Boat Races. Not to be outdone, the women’s squad raced Oxford’s Lightweight Women in some friendly pieces back home in Wallingford, and had a successful day with both boats. In the fixture against Isis, Brookes’ 2nd VIII got out to an early lead, holding 2/3 length advantage round the Fulham bend. After much close racing and many clashes, Isis capitalised and won the piece finishing at Chiswick Eyot by one length. However, due to an injury, the second piece was not rowed out. For a blow-by-blow report of the 1st VIII’s fixture with the Oxford Blue Boat, you
Squad Fixture Report vs. Cambridge
For the first time since 1994, the Boat Club raced an official OxBridge fixture for the Cancer Research UK Boat Races, against Cambridge’s respective men & women’s squads CUBC and CUWBC. Racing took place on the Tideway course in the form of two pieces splitting the Boat Race in half. The men raced from Putney to Chiswick Eyot, and then on to the finish, while the ladies stopped at Hammersmith, and restarted at Eyot. The men’s 2nd VIII dispatched Goldie handily, winning by 3 and 5 lengths in the respective pieces, while the battle between the 1st VIII and Cambridge’s Blue Boat was a more interesting affair. After a minute, Brookes’
