BUCS 2024
BUCS & Wallingford Regatta Report
The first set of multi-lane racing took place over the weekend for the whole Brookes squad at BUCS Regatta and Wallingford Regatta. Topping the BUCS medal table with 20 medals was an incredible result while everyone wore black ribbons as a tribute to Keith Kelly, our director of sport.
Saturday
Six men’s eights took to the water at Holme Pierrepoint, Nottingham, for BUCS Regatta 2024. On the first day of racing, the Brookes 1st VIII took first place in the time trial and the 2nd VIII took the second spot straight into the A-final avoiding the repechage. In the final, the A crew won by 3 seconds over our B crew who was 13 seconds clear of Durham University in 3rd spot.
In the Intermediate Eights, 3 out of 4 eights came 1,2,3, in the time trial and repeated this in the Final collecting all 3 medals.
On the first day of racing, Teddy Sherman came 5th in the Intermediate 1x in the time trial, booking his place in the A Final. Teddy then improved on his time trial performance, bringing home the bronze medal.
Our Novice squad also enjoyed their first day of racing in the Beginner 4+ category, coming 15th and qualifying for the C final. They also improved from their time trial performance, coming through to win the C final by 8 seconds.
Sunday
The second day of racing saw our Men, Women and Novice squad out in force. 3 women’s VIIIs arrived at the regatta with one racing in Champ and 2 racing in the Intermediate category. The Brookes 1st VIII won the time trial and progressed straight through to the final. In the final, Brookes got out to strong start and made the most of their winter miles by continually pressing away from the pack to cross the finish line in 1st, 6 seconds ahead of Durham University.
In the Intermediate Women’s eights, the two crews booked their spots in the A final by coming 1st and 3rd in the time trial. In the final, the Brookes A crew got ahead of the chasing pack early on and held clear water for the remainder of the race to cross the line 5 seconds ahead of the 2nd Brookes Intermediate VIII who picked up the silver medal.
The men were out in force in a total of 11 fours across the day. 2 Championship coxed fours sent out a statement of intent coming top two in the time trial, booking their place straight in the A final. In the final, the two Brookes crews were tightly followed by the Cambridge crew but managed to hold out to get the 1-2.
In the intermediate coxed fours time trial, Brookes came 1st, 2nd and 3rd in a very tightly contested race. The final also did not disappoint, Brookes A got out to a 3 second lead in 500m and managed to hold a winning margin to cross the line seeing off the challenges from their teammates, 2 Bristol crews and Cambridge. Brookes C also had a strong row, finishing less than a second behind 1st. Brookes B finished 4th in the race, one second off 3rd.
In the only men’s coxless fours event, Brookes entered 6 crews all of which booked their places into the repechages other than our A crew who qualified in 2nd to head straight to the final. Rep 1 did not disappoint, with 4 Brookes crews lining up to fight for 2 places in the A final. Brookes C jumped out to a 4 second lead at the 500m mark and grew in confidence to hold this lead and book their place in the A final. The remaining 3 Brookes crews had to settle for the B final after Newcastle narrowly pipped them to the line. Rep 2 had Brookes D take to the water, they hung back in 2nd place until the last 500m where they took a 2 second lead over University of London to become the third Brookes crew in the A final. The A final came along with some of the tightest racing for the gold medal over the whole weekend. Brookes A however had to settle for silver just 0.6 seconds behind a strong Cambridge boat. Brookes C then picked up the bronze medal and Brookes D crossed the line in 4th place.
The Brookes Beginners also had a great set of results on the Sunday with the Beginner Women’s 4+ having a brilliant row to come 3rd in their time trial and to then improve in the final and collect the silver medal. The Men’s Beginner 8+ also found themselves in the A final and came 5th overall.
Three women’s intermediate singles also went out to gain some racing experience coming 27th, 29th and 39th overall along with a men’s intermediate double who came 14th in the time trial.
Monday
After a few years of being absent from BUCS Monday’s, Brookes returned with the Women’s squad heading out in the fours to pick up some more silverware and cement Brookes as the Overall Victor Ludorum winners while the men had already sealed their VL victory in the first two days. In one of the standout rows of the weekend, the Women’s Champ 4- took the time trial and final by the horns, winning the time trial by 4 seconds and extending this lead to 6 seconds in the A final to cross the line in 1st.
The women’s Champ 4+ had no time trial with just 6 entries into the event so all crews were put straight into the final in random lanes. Brookes had another strong performance highlighting the strength of the leading university programme in the UK, crossing the line in 1st place, 5 seconds ahead of Durham University.
In the Intermediate 4+, they set the mark winning the time trial by 4 seconds ahead of University of Glasgow. The B and C crews came 15th and 16th respectively placing them in the C final. In the A final, Brookes A managed to lead the pack all the way to the finish line, picking up another gold medal for Oxford Brookes University.
Our Men’s Lightweight pair also had a great day of racing coming in 2nd in the A final.
Finally, there were our non-student crews racing at Wallingford Regatta on Sunday. They came away with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the men’s Challenge pairs, 1st in the women’s Challenge single and 2nd and 3rd in the women’s Challenge pairs. Brookes|Rowing now turn their attention to racing abroad with the entire team heading to Ghent International Regatta.
Full list of BUCS Results:
Overall VL: 1st
Men’s VL: 1st
O Ch 8+: 1st 2nd
O Int 8+: 1st 2nd 3rd 8th
O Ch 4+: 1st 2nd
O Ch 4-: 2nd 3rd 4th 7th 8th 9th
O Int 4+: 1st 2nd 4th
O Int 1x: 3rd
O Int Lwt 2-: 2nd
O Beg 8+: 5th
O Beg 4+: 13th
O Int 2x: 14th
Women’s VL: 2nd
W Ch 8+: 1st
W Int 8+: 1st 2nd
W Ch 4+: 1st
W Ch 4-: 1st 7th 11th
W Int 4+: 1st 15th 16th
W Beg 4+: 2nd
W Int 1x: 27th 29th 39th