Golden Weekend at EUSA 2017
Last weekend, the Brookes contingent came home with 4 golds and 1 silver from the European University Rowing Championships in Subotica, Serbia. This was the largest squad OBUBC has ever sent to EUSA of 26 athletes, with every athlete coming home with a medal. On finals day, in truly testing conditions of 16mph cross-headwinds, the Men’s 4- comprising of mainly first-year students led from the first stroke, finishing a length clear of the field to win gold. The Men’s 2- had a slightly more interesting race, rowing through the crew from Proteus, NED at halfway and holding off a late charge from German Olympians Munski & Johannesen to win gold
Temple Cup and Ladies Plate Champions!
In a year of records, OBUBC achieved one more – retention of a title, and attaining another. This year at Henley Royal Regatta, the Boat Club defended their title in the Temple Challenge Cup. Formed of an entirely new crew involving five first-year’s led by Head of the River winners Matt Hnatiw and Will Hall, they were guided brilliantly up the course by Charlie Clarke in the coxing seat laying down an unbelievable line. The crew stormed out to a length and held on all the way up the track to take the win. In a year of unbelievable work and belief, this is a fine reward for their efforts.
Women’s Henley report
Women’s Henley 2017 saw Brookes crews compete across six different events, and after Friday morning’s time trials and first round races in the afternoon, it was clear that it would be a strong Brookes showing with all six crews making it easily through to Saturdays quarter finals. Brookes would go into the weekend in the following events – Elite LW2x, Academic 8+, Senior 4-, Senior 4x, Senior 2x and Academic 4+. On the Saturday, the Senior 2x and Academic 4+ were unfortunately knocked out in tough races against strong opposition, but with four crews through to finals day it was the strongest showing of depth ever seen from the Brookes
British national record – 5:30.8 – Marlow Regatta
With world records falling at World Cup II in Poznan, OBUBC were breaking records of their own once again, this time at Marlow Regatta. Brookes’ Ladies Plate crew won the final of Championship 8’s, setting a new Brookes record and British national record of 5:30.84, with the Temple crew also setting another all-time British student record of 5:34.26. It was a thrilling race to watch, with both crews showing relaxed classy form as they went at it hammer & tongs, over a length up on the rest of the field. Both these crews will be fighting for red boxes in the Ladies Challenge Plate and the Temple Challenge Cup. There was further
Top 3 Places at Met Regatta
Out of 71 crews, OBUBC came away from Met Regatta with the top 3 placings in the Championship 8’s, taking home both the Championship title and the Academic pennant. With the 1st boat, this is a culmination of 3 – 4 years of hard work from eight of last year’s Temple Cup winners, looking to continue this unbeaten season into the Ladies Challenge Plate at Henley Royal Regatta. This is also very exciting to see not one but two new Temple crews forging out of the Brookes program, and establishing themselves as the first two UK favourite crews going into the competition. With Marlow Regatta approaching in 2 weeks, all crews will be looking to continue
Making history at BUCS 2017
OBUBC made history in many ways at last weekend’s BUCS Regatta. Entering a record number of crews for the club, across all three days of racing, saw Brookes come away with a combined 123 medals – including 41 golds, 51 silvers and 31 bronze medals. For the first time ever, OBUBC entered two crews into Saturday’s Championship 8’s event. The men’s 1st VIII came away with the gold medal for the 4th year running (the longest streak of any university), with the 2nd VIII securing the bronze medal – this is the first time that any university has ever medalled with two crews in Championship 8’s. Brookes’ women also had their strongest
Best Ever Club Result at Women’s Head
Brookes’ women had the best set of squad results ever at this weekend’s Women’s Head, with 6th, 16th and 53rd place finishes across the 3 eights, with only Cambridge’s boat race squad beating Brookes to the accolade of highest combined first and second boats in the competition. The 1st VIII was a mere 4 seconds off 4th place, and with the return of GB international members to the event this year, the standard of competition again stepped up – signifying a great result for the Brookes squad with the highest ever finish for our 2nd and 3rd eights, the women’s squad had a fantastic showing on the Tideway. After a very successful head race
Brookes post 4 Fastest Times at Reading Head
Posting 4 of the 5 fastest times ever recorded at Reading Uni Head, OBUBC had a very good weekend in Reading, as well as getting extremely close to breaking the 2015 record of 12:41.3 with a time of 12:44.6. The Women’s 1st VIII also finished the 2nd division inside the course record with 14:45.6 – another strong showing of depth and speed through the boat club and both squads. To close out the head-racing season, the final two events before the Easter break are Women’s Head this Saturday (March 11th) and the Head of the River (March 25th). WINS: MEN Elite 8+ Senior 8+ IM1 8+ IM2 8+ IM3 8+ WOMEN Senior 8+ W IM2
Women’s Fixture Report vs. OUWBC
The women’s squad took on local rivals OUWBC in an official fixture, over two pieces on the Tideway. After some unofficial sparring before last year’s Boat Race, this would be a good opportunity for both crews on the championship course. In the match between Brookes’ 1st crew and the Oxford Blue Boat, Brookes sprang out to an early lead but by the end of a competitive first piece, Oxford on the Middlesex station had made the most of their bend advantage, and came out on top by just over a length. Going into the second piece, the crews’ coaches and media onlookers were treated to a fantastic, closely-fought duel, with Brookes
Men’s Fixture Report vs. Oxford
On a Tideway in biblical conditions, OBUBC’s men raced Oxford, in their first official Boat Races media fixture. Both crews raced their respective Blue Boat and Isis counterparts over two pieces – from Putney to the Eyot, then restarting again at the Eyot, and finishing at the University Finish Post by Chiswick Bridge. As with Cambridge, Brookes found themselves up against a stronger Oxford crew than in 2016’s fixtures, this time containing two Olympians. In the first half course, Oxford took an early lead out the blocks from the Surrey station and maintained a 1-length lead to Hammersmith, where the conditions then became progressively worse, with swirling winds and breaking waves. OBUBC rowed a cleaner middle of the race
