Author Archive

The Brookes men’s squad were glad to return to calmer conditions on the Tideway this Sunday, following a challenging conditions against the University of Oxford the previous weekend. Brookes fielded two eights against the Cambridge University and Goldie, their reserve crew. Brookes III and IV raced against Thames I and II in a warmup fixture for the Eights Head of the River in three weeks time. 1st VIII vs CUBC Brookes won the coin toss and chose the Surrey station for the first piece, which ran from the Boat Race start to Chiswick Steps. Brookes had the better start, gaining a couple of seats as the crews passed the town

Following an impressive performance last week against the Cambridge Blue Boat and Blondie, the BROOKES|Rowing women’s squad returned to the Tideway on Sunday to test their speed against their local rivals at the University of Oxford. The race had been scheduled to take place on Saturday, but difficult conditions meant the race was postponed. 1st VIII vs OUWBC The 1st VIII, facing the Oxford Blue Boat, won the toss and chose to row on the Surrey station for the first piece, which was an eight minute piece from the Boat Race start. Both crews got out well and were close through the initial stages of the race. Passing Barn Elms,

Following the men’s fixture with Oxford the day before, BROOKES|Rowing took three women’s eights to the Tideway on Sunday to face off against the Cambridge crews that will race in next month’s Boat Race. The fixture was held in the direction of the Women’s Head of the River race. For all 3 boats the first race started at Chiswick bridge and ran to Chiswick steps. The second race was from Chiswick Steps to the Black buoy in Putney. Brookes I vs. CUWBC Blue Boat The Cambridge Blue Boat won the toss and choose the Surrey station. The Oxford Brookes crew got the faster start, and within 2 minutes had a

This Saturday saw the first day in a bumper fortnight of fixtures between BROOKES|Rowing, the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race crews and other local opposition. This acts as invaluable racing experience ahead of the upcoming Tideway Heads of the River. Brookes I vs. OUBC Blue Boat The 1st VIII raced against the Oxford Blue Boat which will race in the Boat Race in a few weeks.  The fixture consisted of two pieces from the Boat Race start to St. Paul’s.  The overriding factor in both OUBC fixtures was the river conditions, where the incoming tide was met with a strong westerly wind causing very rough water both at the start

A strong showing at Quintin Head saw the men’s squad post a 1-2-3 and the women’s squad narrowly miss out on the win after a close race with the University of London. The men’s 1st VIII were an impressive 29 seconds ahead of the rest of the field- with athletes returning from the GB Rowing Sierra Nevada training camp joining the rest of the squad where there were 5 men’s and 3 women’s eights racing. The main squad have spent the last week at Wimbleball Lake in Somerset for their winter training camp, before heading to London for the first of the year’s Tideway Heads. In addition to the overall

This weekend saw the GB Rowing 1st Assessment take place in Boston, Lincs- which marks the first step towards next year’s Olympic Games, U23 World Rowing Championships and FISU World University Championships. 48 Brookes athletes attended the testing, which comprised of a 2k ergo on Saturday followed by Sunday’s 5k water test. In the morning division, Josh Bugajski, who won a bronze medal at this summer’s World Rowing Championships in the Men’s Eight, finished fastest of the Brookes athletes in the men’s pairs- partnered by James Rudkin. Their second place finish was followed by Morgan Bolding in fourth and Rory Gibbs close behind in fifth. Matthew Tarrant rounded off the

The first race of the season for most athletes was Upper Thames Head this weekend, where five men’s crews and four women’s crews raced in the afternoon division. The race provided a good opportunity for the crews to gain race experience in the absence of the British Rowing Championships, which are normally held at the end of October. The men posted a 1-2-3 with the three fastest times of the day. With the 1st VIII rested following the Head of the Charles Regatta the previous weekend, the 2nd VIII took the honours, 21 seconds ahead of the next fastest club. The women’s 1st VIII posted the 16th fastest time of