The race always attracts huge crowds along the Harbourside.

The Men's Senior 2nd VIII put Bristol one-nil up with a comfortable victory, leading their opponents from start to finish. Bristol's advantage was increased by the Novice men and Novice women's 1st VIIIs, who were undaunted by the pressure of their first Varsity regatta, rowing Bristol to a three-nil lead. The Novice women's victory was comprehensive and impressive, although aided by a UWE crab which brought their boat to a near stop midway through the race. The Novice men won by the narrowest of margins, showing their power and stamina by holding off UWE round the final bend of the course to win by a canvas.

Although not counted in the final Varsity score-line, Bristol's Novice Men's 2nd VIII also won their event, proving the strength and depth of Bristol's Novice squad. This was the first time a 2nd Novice VIII has rowed at Varsity.

Two further races occurred but did not count towards the overall results. Bristol and UWE fielded returning student male and female alumni crews. The major attraction in the UWE men's alumni crew was Peter Reed, a former UWE boat club president. Reed can boast an Olympic gold medal from Beijing, and the world's largest recorded lung capacity. Perhaps understandably, the power of the UWE crew proved too much for Bristol's alumni men.

In the men and women's 1st Senior VIII races, Bristol had mixed success. Racing against a strong UWE crew, the women's 1st VIII started well but were unable to hold off their opponents.

This race was preceded by a highly controversial clash between Bristol and UWE's Men's Senior 1st VIIIs. Following the conclusion of a close race, confusion reigned as the race commentator announced UWE had won, before this result was later changed to a Bristol victory. Unbelievably, this victory was then snatched away from the Bristol crew who were disqualified following UWE protests. The dispute centred around two false starts made by the Bristol crew before the eventual clean start to the race. UWE claimed that to commit two false starts was against the race rules and should warrant disqualification. The race was eventually decided to be void since the rules on false starts were ambiguous.

Tempers frayed after the race, resulting in neither UWE nor Bristol's men's first eights participating in the presentation ceremony.

Rather disappointingly, this dispute marred an otherwise excellent performance by Bristol who successfully avenged last year's Varsity defeat and marked their centenary year with victory over their arch-rivals.

Congratulations to the victorious 2008/2009 University of Bristol Boat Club!

The racing went off without incident, and apart from one, all the Bristol crews came home looking strong and well placed. The 2nd novice VIII unfortunately had to limp across the line due to a breakage in the boat. The nervous wait for results didn't last long as the times came through almost immediately. Initial times were good but it was not until later in the day that the exciting news of the Ist VIII winning Senior 3 had come through. The 2nd VIII also placed well and their time ranked them 9th in Senior 3. Two Bristol VIIIs in the top ten of Senior 3 was a great achievement. The novice 1st VIII came in at an undeserved 297th. Due to several injuries and boat repairs their preparation and race were severely affected.

The 1st VIII had narrowly missed a few first places during the head season due to injury and this was a just reward for a crew who had worked so hard. However, their reward would not last long as race officials later disqualified the crew for a mix up in entries. However, this does not take away from the fact that they won Senior 3 despite the Halladay trophy now going to Westminster School by default. Through nobody's fault it seemed a cruel way to finish the season but the strength of the squad this year will help to raise spirits as crews move onto to Easter camp and a summer of exciting potential.

1st VIII - Head of the River 09

The waiting time on the river was nothing compared to the massive wait at Reading, and sitting in the sun really isn't so bad! Before long we had spun and were off on the 7K Slog, as I saw it, to the finish. It went very quickly. We overtook a couple of crews and clashed Blades with one crew which refused to move out of way, even though Amelia was making a lot of noise to try and get them to do so. Luckily though their bow wasn't so strong and crabbed after clashing with our stroke, and we went on to complete the race.

Overall we finished 99th out of about 300 crews and 6th out of about 60 crews in our category of senior 4. Mrs Page supplied us all with amazing lunches and food, and the only downside to the day was that UWE beat us by two seconds ... we have all appreciated the need to step up the training as Varsity is not so far away.

Once we arrived we had little time to rig and boat. By the time we did, we made our way up the course, which was one of the nicest, and narrowest, I've rowed on. It was calm, the current was practically nonexistent, and true to English style, there were the classic river barges lining the banks in front of picturesque balconied bungalows stretching for a good length of the course. We had a great warm-up pace going, moving through the boat with a great connection, then we hit a huge traffic jam of boats a few strokes past the 2000 metre mark of the 4.6km course. See, the divisions weren't organized well, or at least the organization to get the boats to the start wasn't there, so all these boats were just jammed on a narrow stretch of river. We ended up inching our way through a jumble of school VIIIs, master's VIIIs and other universities, and one particularly impressive octuple full of kids, but was a bit annoying as they were right off our stern. After ages of waiting, we finally made it to the start, but didn't quite realize it until the official called for us to turn around and start.

We turned, made some great strokes, and we were off. It was amazingly smooth. On Wednesday we had done a head race style piece down our course at Saltford at a 30-32 stroke rating (strokes per minute), and it wasn't bad, but this was really, really good. We kept on at a 30-stroke rating for the first two and a half kilometres, and managed to pass one of the boats from the Imperial College in London. We kept a solid pace all the way down the course, and managed to hit a 31.5 stroke rating in our last 1000 metres. It was the best rowing I'd ever been a part of. We moved quickly and smoothly, no rush, everyone caught and locked in the water, and there was excellent send of the boat. With each stroke came more speed and length, and once we passed the boat from Imperial, they just became smaller and smaller, until we rounded the bend and couldn't see them anymore.

The end of the race came in the middle of a power ten set, and we definitely put in the work to cross the line. The paddle back to the bank was just as hectic as the navigation up the course, but this time with heaving shoulders and body heat steaming through the spandex. We were later informed (the next day) that we made fifth of thirty-seven crews, which is a massive achievement. Considering we were just put together as a crew at the end of January, it was a testament to the work that we put in at Saltford as a ragtag bunch of rowers, stuck in an VIII and told to just go for it. After the celebratory post-race jaffa cake or five, it was back to Bristol for another week, until Hammersmith and Women's Head, which, from the looks of last weekend, will have some great results for UBBC crews.

Surrounded by the familiar, the girls began to relax as they waited at the head of the river, we took time to stare around us at the countryside which showed signs of spring, and hinted at the summer to come. With the verdant images and clement temperature around us (definitely above zero, so practically tropical for Saltford), a summer holiday's mood came us all as we took a few photographs and waved at the other boats; some of us even passed the time trying to remember the words to Gina G's 'Ooh ah Just a little bit'. Now some might fear that we lacked focus, but I'm sure we were subconsciously seeking to intimidate the other crews with our nonchalant, apparently overwhelming confidence in our own abilities, or perhaps we sought to lull them into a false sense of security by hiding our fierce competitive sides, which despite our exterior calm lay ready and waiting beneath, tensed to pounce. Suddenly boats began to turn ahead of us. We quickly shed our light-heartedness and some layers, in preparation for the race ahead. Our blades square in the water, we paused for a moment at backstops...

An eternity elapsed...

And then we were off. In ten controlled strokes we steadily built up to full race pace, and simultaneously overtook Bath, whose cox was fruitlessly calling power-tens. After this impressive beginning, nothing would stop us, not wind, nor rain, nor even those tyres that some of the barges have on their sides; nothing would come between us and the finish line, except a very respectable time. The varnished wood of Alison Cambell Limited flashed golden in the sunlight as we crossed the finish line, and just as she had risen gloriously from the ashes, the novice girls had achieved their first victory.

In the second race, we kept a steady pace and it passed fairly uneventfully, except when the stewards told us to stop because of a hold up caused by the boys in front of us, at which we decided to express all the hatred and frustration that mankind had caused each of us over the years and which we had kept inside us until its release on that momentous day, 28th February 2009. Well so it seemed: five was so angry she didn't hear the cox and then seven was so lived she caught a crab, so that, by the time we finally got going again, stroke was so frustrated that we went off at about rate 40.

Overall, the girls are jubilant about their success and new-found tub-of-glory - the shamefully wronged and misjudged Alison Cambell, which had till so recently lay in pieces, gathering dust and harvesting spiders on the boat-club floor. The girls are proud to have returned her to her former glory, and can only hope to build on both their reputations in the months to come.

Photograph by Birdman Photography

In their first race since the beginning of the new term, the crew will be particularly pleased with the fact that they beat UWE's men's second VIII by an impressive forty seconds and recorded a time quicker than many crews racing at more advanced levels.

The men's first VIII were unlucky not to win their division, finishing as runners-up behind a talented crew from London Rowing Club, who benefited from a home advantage. The time set by the men's first VIII was the sixth fastest of the day in any division, and seven seconds quicker than the time recorded by their Varsity rivals in UWE's men's first VIII.

Above are the men's 1st VIII passing the University Post - the finishing line of both Quintin Head Race and the Oxford Cambridge boat race.

The first VIII may be slightly disappointed with their result given that in 2008 and 2007 Bristol's men posted the fastest time in, not only their division, but the head race as a whole. However, they will take consolation from the fact that the overall winner of this year's competition was a crew selected from none other than Cambridge University's men's Boat Race squad.

Bristol's women's VIII responded to the high standard set by Bristol's male crews with an equally positive performance. Bristol's women finished in second place in their division and will be buoyed by the fact that their time was significantly quicker than a number of women's crews competing in more advanced categories.

Not to be outdone by their more experienced teammates, Bristol's Novice crews also reacted well to the demanding waters of the Thames. For these novices, who only took up rowing at the start of this academic year, this head race was their first experience of competitive rowing away from the reassuring calm of the River Avon.

The Novice women's first VIII showed their potential by finishing fourth in their division, ahead of crews from Royal Holloway and Imperial. Unfortunately the Novice women's second VIII were disqualified after their race on a technicality. Had their time stood, they would have come 8th out of 10 crews.

Even more successful were the Novice men's VIII who came second in their division, embarrassing crews from Imperial and Thames rowing club on their home water. The Novice men would seem to be progressing well as they aim to match the success of last year's BUSA winning squad.

Bristol's crews will view their success at Quintin as an indication of their encouraging progress so far this year. They will strive to maintain their effort levels as they look towards the BUCS Head of the River Race in February, summer regattas, and next term's Varsity showdown.

Early on the morning of the 3rd, after a rousing speech from the men's captain, the 19 men from the men's squad assembled on the icy landing stages for the start of selection, in the form of seat racing. Seat racing is one of the most painful experiences known, involving pushing your body to the absolute limit for 4 minutes, before swapping a couple of crew members between boats and repeating the process, in order to find who can move a boat the fastest. After a day and a half of this, which meant that some people had done 20 races, the 1st VIII had been selected. Meanwhile, the 5 rowers and cox from the women's squad were plugging away on the lake, clocking up the miles that are essential to doing well later on in the season and eyeing up the Cambridge 1st and 2nd VIII's who were also training on the lake.

A normal day of training camp began at 0715, when the entire hostel was woken up by Will Preece, the men's captain. The first session started at 0800, just as the sun was rising over the bitterly cold lake. This session was 20-24k, normally with a couple of pieces, which is when the boat does "race pace" as opposed to paddling. The crews were rewarded after the first session with breakfast at 1000, before the next technical session started at midday. It was very cold in the mornings, definitely sub zero, but usually by the second outing, the sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm for the rowers. Unfortunately, the sun was not able to penetrate the many layers that the coxes and coaches had to wear to stay warm. Lunch was at 1330, which gave the squads a chance for a nap, or a quick revision session, before the final outing at 1530, which was another 20-24k. Evenings were a chance for showers, sleep, work, or just relaxing until dinner at 2030.

By the 6th, people were having to start to leave the camp to come back to Bristol for their exams, this included members from all boats, the girls were down to only 2 people, so played in a couple of sculls. The men's squad decided to leave the eights and start training in smaller boats, especially as bodies were starting to feel the strain after days of intense training.

On the morning of the 9th, after one last outing, the boats were de-rigged, and after a very quick bit of rather wet rewiring from a couple of the engineers, the trailer lights were working again and the boats pulled out on the long trip home. This left the rest of the squad to reflect, for a few hours before the flight, on a really good training camp. The training had been very hard, people's hands were covered in raw blisters, one chaps hand was so bad it actually stuck to the coaches as he shook it to say good bye, the camaraderie within the squad is excellent and this was a brilliant way to start what could potentially be a very successful season.

Many thanks to Gordon Trevett and Richard Poole (men's coaches) and Marcus Munafo (women's coach) for their hard work over the week, and to Adam Mackenzie and Matt Ridley for the massive job of driving the boats down to Banyoles and then back again. Finally, well done to all those in the men's and women's squads for their effort and dedication over the training camp.