Results

GB 1st Assessment report

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

Upper Thames Head Report

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

Brookes takes 4th at Head of the Charles

Oxford Brookes Men’s 1st VIII charged from 24th place to 4th place at this weekend’s Head of the Charles Regatta. Cox Harry Brightmore was kept on his toes at all times whilst overtaking crews from Princeton, Penn and Cornell. This has been a great experience and a big learning curve for all the crew who hope to be able to return next year in a more competitive starting position. The race, the largest regatta in the world, took place between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The crew were in fifth place through the first two timing points at Riverside Boat Club and Weld Boathouse, but the fastest last two minutes of

Summer International Roundup

BROOKES|Rowing athletes saw considerable success when racing internationally this summer, following the culmination of the university rowing calendar at Henley in July. Six athletes raced at the Senior World Championships, which took place in Linz, Austria. Rory Gibbs, in his first season as part of the GB Rowing senior team, won a bronze medal as part of the coxless four, following a tough battle with Romania throughout. This qualified the boat for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. In the men’s eight, Mat Tarrant and Josh Bugajski claimed a bronze medal, also qualifying the boat for the Olympics. Morgan Bolding and pairs partner Tom Jeffrey came agonisingly close- eventually finishing

More Success at Henley Royal Regatta

Following a strong season for the whole squad, the domestic season concluded last week at Henley Royal Regatta, where Brookes qualified 10 crews into the main draw. The Ladies Plate crew completed a hat trick of wins in this event, with new crew members Oliver Wilkes, Brendan Edwards, Jamie Axon taking their first win in the event. The crew had races against U23 crews from Great Britain and The Netherlands in what proved to be one of the most competitive Ladies Plate fields in recent years. However, the crew were able to edge a 1 length lead against the Dutch crew, who had set a new record for the event

Brookes Retain Women’s Henley Title

A dominant performance throughout the week in the Academic Eight saw a completely new crew of Alice Harper, Lieben Dickens, Coralie Spearman, Harriet Ferguson, Katie Metalli, Jordan Simper, Beth Meakin, Beth Wilford-Dutton and returning cox Aisling Humphries-Griffiths take victory by an impressive margin of 4.5 lengths, retaining the Academic Eights Title won in 2018. The crew had recorded clear water margins over Oxford, Cardiff and Birmingham earlier in the regatta and this demonstrated the depth that is developing in the women’s programme at BROOKES|Rowing, with a mixture of experience levels throughout the athletes. Sophia Heath, racing in an U23 Great Britain development crew, beat off international competition from Princeton University

Metropolitan Regatta Report

This weekend saw the full Brookes squad racing at the Metropolitan Regatta, which took place at Dorney Lake and provided the squad with good racing against British crews who will be opposition at both Henley Womens Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta in the coming weeks.  In the Men’s Championship Eights, Brookes fielded 5 eights, of which 3 made the A Final to face crews including Leander Club and Molesey Boat Club. The Ladies Plate crew controlled the race throughout, being the fastest crew in every 500. They took the victory by just under a length over our Temple Cup crew, who pushed them hard and finished a length up on

Duisburg Regatta Report

BROOKES|Rowing travelled to Duisburg in Germany this weekend for the 2019 International Wedau Regatta. Following a dominant display at BUCS Regatta the previous weekend, greater challenges awaited with a number of senior international crews racing at their first regatta of the season. This included World Record holders and current World Champions Germany- who headed a strong field in the Men’s Eights event. Saturday’s racing saw three Brookes crews feature in the final of the Men’s eights- where strong cross-headwind conditions resulted in the lanes being seeded. Brookes finished in 3rd, 4th and 6th place- the 1st 8 six seconds behind Germany and one behind Leander. The women’s eights had a

BUCS Regatta Report

The men’s squad went unbeaten and women’s squad medalled in eight of the nine events they raced over the weekend, in what was a great first step of the regatta season for the whole club.  On Day 1, the men raced in Championship and Intermediate eights. They had won both events every year since 2013, and this year did not disappoint. With two eights in the championship category, the 1st VIII stormed to a seven second victory. However, what made this even more impressive, was that the crew in second place was our 2nd VIII, who finished the race with a clear water margin over bronze medallists Newcastle. This is

GB Final Trials Report

The past weekend saw a number of Brookes athletes head to the GB Rowing headquarters at Caversham Lake for the final set of trials for this summer’s World Rowing Senior and U23 Championships. Overall, Brookes had 23 athletes racing across the weekend. The most impressive result was Josh Bugajski, 2019 Head of the River Race and 2017 Ladies’ Plate winner, taking the overall win in the M2- with his partner James Rudkin following a 3rd place finish last season. Current Brookes athletes Rory Gibbs and Morgan Bolding also had their best ever result by finishing 4th- beating 5 Caversham-based pairs in the process. Both these athletes have been part of