Brookes VS Oxford Fixture 2024
On Sunday 10th March, our men’s squad had their final fixture races of the season against Oxford University. With rain coming down all day, the water was kept rather calm for the Tideway’s standards.
Brookes VS Blue Boat
Brookes chose the Middlesex station following the coin toss. Both crews got off to a clean start with Brookes taking an early advantage coming past Fulham Football Club. Oxford then rowed through to a quarter of a length lead coming under Hammersmith Bridge. From that point, Brookes were the more dominant crew and rowed impressively back through Oxford round the outside of the bend. After some extremely tight racing and interlocking blades, Brookes crossed the finish line with a 1/3 of a length lead over Oxford.
In the second piece of the day, both crews got out hard and fast and stayed level around the first bend. After 2 minutes, Brookes started pushing into the lead entering their bend. By Barnes Bridge, Brookes were up by a quarter of a length. This extended to ¾ length lead and looked as if Brookes were going to pull away, but Oxford were extremely resilient and held on well. With both crews fighting hard, Brookes managed to hold a lead until they crossed the finish line a 1/3 of a length ahead of the dark Blues.
Brookes VS Isis
Brookes got out to a good start and by Fulham Football Club they had half a length lead over Oxford. Both coxes steered aggressively and poorly and 1 minute of clashing ensued, after which the umpire stopped the race. On the restart, Brookes took a 3-seat lead and continued to step away to win the first piece by a margin of 2 lengths.
In the second piece, Brookes got out to a quarter of a length lead and stretched out to nearly a length lead coming under Barnes Bridge. On the inside of the bend, Oxford managed to close the gap to bring it back to level with 250m to go. In the final, 30 seconds Brookes managed to step out to win by a margin of 2 seats.
Our 3rd and 4th VIIIs also got out on the Tideway with some great racing in preparation for HORR.
Overall, a great day of racing for our men’s squad with lessons learned and some really tight racing. Our sights are now set on HORR in 2 weeks to finish off a very quiet head race season.
Many thanks to all organisers, umpires, launch drivers and safety to help the day run smoothly.
Photos Courtesy of Allmarkone