Men’s Fixture Report vs. Oxford
At 12pm on 21st February, Oxford Brookes University raced Oxford University in an official fixture for the Cancer Research UK Boat Races. Not to be outdone, the women’s squad raced Oxford’s Lightweight Women in some friendly pieces back home in Wallingford, and had a successful day with both boats. In the fixture against Isis, Brookes’ 2nd VIII got out to an early lead, holding 2/3 length advantage round the Fulham bend. After much close racing and many clashes, Isis capitalised and won the piece finishing at Chiswick Eyot by one length. However, due to an injury, the second piece was not rowed out. For a blow-by-blow report of the 1st VIII’s fixture with the Oxford Blue Boat, you
Squad Fixture Report vs. Cambridge
For the first time since 1994, the Boat Club raced an official OxBridge fixture for the Cancer Research UK Boat Races, against Cambridge’s respective men & women’s squads CUBC and CUWBC. Racing took place on the Tideway course in the form of two pieces splitting the Boat Race in half. The men raced from Putney to Chiswick Eyot, and then on to the finish, while the ladies stopped at Hammersmith, and restarted at Eyot. The men’s 2nd VIII dispatched Goldie handily, winning by 3 and 5 lengths in the respective pieces, while the battle between the 1st VIII and Cambridge’s Blue Boat was a more interesting affair. After a minute, Brookes’
109 pots won at Wallingford Head
This weekend at Wallingford Head showed the fantastic form the Boat Club is in. Photos courtesy of Iain Weir @ Rowing Photography. The highlight of the weekend had to be the performance of the top Men’s and Women’s eights – both these crews won Elite 8’s, breaking both course records in the process – the men by 11 seconds, and women by a hefty 25 seconds. It’s great to have both the fastest men’s & women’s times ever recorded at Wallingford Head under the OBUBC name. It wasn’t only the top end of the club that was successful, as the Boat Club took home 109 pots, winning 16 of the 22 categories
Brookes, National Champions
At the weekend, the Boat Club had an incredibly successful regatta at the British National Championships, with the top crew winning the Championship ahead of Leander, Molesey and U.L. Fielding 9 eights, with 96 athletes racing, this was the largest Brookes contingent of men & women ever to represent Brookes at any competition. After a great day’s racing, the Brookes crews came away with a fantastic set of results – one of the highlights being the women’s squad, winning a Bronze in the Women’s Elite Eights and their first podium ever at this event, along with the 2nd VIII going on to win the B-final. The Men’s squad then topped off the
Brookes haul in medals at EUSA
The Boat Club had a fantastic domestic season in 2015, and capped it off by winning multiple medals at the European University Rowing Championships in Hannover, Germany. OBUBC became European Champions in two events – winning the Lightweight Men’s 2x and the Men’s Eight – including being the first British university to win the Men’s Eight Gold in the history of the event. They also picked up Silver in the Women’s Coxless Four event. Brookes rowers also formed part of the GB Rowing Team who went on to win the overall competition: The Brookes Men’s 8+ comprised of students Harry Brightmore (cox), Morgan Bolding, Henry Swarbrick, James Stanhope, Rory Gibbs, Matthew Aldridge, Michael Glover, Will Hall and Richard
