Brookes’ GB Summer – REPORT

Following in the footsteps of our medalling Olympians, OBUBC’s athletes had a very successful summer on the international circuit, representing at three different international events.

At the U23 Worlds in Rotterdam, Ben Reeves achieved a bronze medal in the LM4-, to add to his other bronze in the same event last year. The men’s 4+ of Harry Brightmore (cox), Rory Gibbs, Matthew Aldridge and Michael Glover had a very strong regatta, winning their repechage strongly, but ended up a length behind the medals in an extremely tight field.

At the Senior World Championships (also in Rotterdam), Joel Cassells came away with a fantastic bronze medal in the LM2-, considering the short amount of preparation time once his crewmate, Olympic spare Sam Scrimgeour, had returned from Rio. Jamie Copus and his LM4x raced well through the repechage to make the A final, but found themselves unfortunately up against the conditions in the worst lane, finishing a credible 6th in a field full of athletes fresh from the Olympic Games a week earlier.

To finish off the summer, more medals came home with Brookes athletes from the FISU World University Champs. Annie Withers sat at 2 in the W4-, coming away with a bronze medal, and Imogen Mackie finished 4th in the B-final of LW2x. Women’s coach Allan French coached both of these crews, which adds to the most successful season ever for the women’s squad at OBUBC. Ollie Morgan stroked the LM4-, finishing only a couple of seconds shy of a bronze in 4th.

The highlight of the event was the GB men’s 8+ winning the final race of the regatta, emulating Scott Durant’s Olympic performance at Rio. Coxed by assistant coach Rory Copus, with Temple-winners James Stanhope and Robbie Massey at stroke and 6 respectively, the crew rowed France down to lead by halfway, extending that to a clear-water win at the finish in a time of 5:30.

With the international racing wrapped up for another year, and a lot of new metal sitting in the trophy cabinet, the Boat Club welcomes all the new students joining us in two weeks, and we look forward to another very exciting & successful season in 2016-2017.