Course Record at Wallingford Head

BROOKES|Rowing closed 2018 off by extending their course record at Wallingford Head by an impressive 18 seconds, despite unfavourable conditions. 

The course, which takes on the Brookes home stretch in Cholsey, takes place from Moulsford Bridge to the OUBC Boathouse at Wallingford Marina. It runs for 4250m and provides coxes and crews with a challenging course to navigate. 

In the first division, Brookes filled the top four places in the Men’s Eights despite the 1st VIII only racing in Division 2. The women’s 1st VIII closed the gap on local rivals Leander Club to just 4 seconds, and were the same distance from OUWBC, finishing in second position in Women’s Open Eights. The women’s crews split into fours for the second division, winning both the Open 4+ and Band 1 4- and setting a new course record in the coxed four. 

The Men’s 1st VIII of Harry Brightmore, Morgan Bolding, Henry Swarbrick, Matthew Aldridge, Rory Gibbs, Sam Nunn, Michael Glover, Oli Wilkes and Mikey Dalton beat crews from Cambridge University and Leander Club to head into the Christmas break unbeaten this season. The Men’s 2nd and 3rd VIIIs topped off the result by finishing in second and third respectively. 

It’s always fun to race on our home stretch- and good to test ourselves against Cambridge’s Trial VIIIs. We’re looking forward to the Boat Race fixtures in a few months time.– Henry Swarbrick

With only the GB Rowing 2nd Assessment remaining between now and Christmas, the squad now look to develop more speed over the coming months ahead of the spring season, which will commence with the official Boat Race Fixtures. 

Full results can be found below:

Division 1

Open Eights:

1 Brookes B 13:31.6
2 Brookes C 13:41.8 (pen)
3 Brookes D 14:08.2
9 Brookes E 14:44.1
11 Brookes F 14:51.4

Women’s Open Eights:

2 Brookes A 15:32.6
3 Brookes B 15:56.6

Band 1 Women’s Eights:

3 Brookes C 16:47.9

Division 2

Open Eights:

1 Brookes A 13:08.0 [new record]
2 Brookes B 13:26.2
3 Brookes C 13:29.0

Women’s Coxless Fours:

1 Brookes B 17:01.0
2 Brookes A 17:04.8

Women’s Coxed Fours:

1 Brookes A 17:18.1 [new record]
3 Brookes B 17:50.4

Women’s U23 Eights:

1 Brookes C 16:39.2

Band 1 Eights:

2 Brookes D 14:01.8
3 Brookes E 14:13.0

Band 2 Eights

2 Brookes F 14:39.7

U23 Coxed Fours:

2 Brookes A 16:34.5