News Archive 2009-2010

Even more remarkable at this level was that two of the crew were novices only 18 months ago, and had learned to row at Bristol. The four defeated First & Third Trinity, Cambridge on the Wednesday then Imperial College, London, and Newcastle University on subsequent days. They lost the final to University College Dublin.

Bristol sent two VIIIs to the Temple Challenge Cup, with the second VIII falling just shy of qualification for what has to be the strongest field for a number of years. While the 1st VIII qualified with fury, only to be drawn against the reigning BUCS champ VIII crew in the form of Queens Belfast.

Our boys gave a hearty performance, nailing a ferociously quick start, forcing Queens to find an extra gear. Sadly Queens did find that extra gear, but Bristol soldiered on to a solid and quick time down the straight course. Shortly afterwards with the crew donning UBBC blazers and ties, they enjoyed glasses of well earned Pimms signing off a great year.

The 1st VIII winding up past the enclosures during qualification.

Less about Henley Royal Regatta 2010

The student crew, who live in Stoke Bishop, Clifton, Redland and St Jude’s, were rowing in VIIIs to compete for the PricewaterhouseCoopers Cup of the Intermediate Academic division.

The 8 rowers and their cox aged nineteen to twenty-one raced 5 times over the prestigious 3 day event to finally seize victory with a win over Cardiff University.

Club Captain, Matt Ridley, described Henley as, “the pinnacle of women’s rowing in the world, with crews coming from across the globe to compete. For it to be won by a crew mainly containing rowers with less than two years experience is astonishing."

On the first day of the prestigious event, a time trial narrowed twenty-six crews down to sixteen. From there after the university students raced side by side each of their opposition crews down the 1500m straight course.

Bristol defeated Edinburgh University in their first heat with a substantial two and a half length lead. They went on to beat the University of Birmingham Boat Club by a length and a quarter in the quarter finals.

The semi-final proved their toughest race: against a crew from the Cambridge University Women's Boat Club - the favourites. The determined Bristol crew exploded off the start line to lead for the entire race. Cambridge failed to overtake, despite fighting back hard in the final 250m, and Bristol maintained their position to finish with a third of a length lead in their fastest time of 5:03.

Winning the final against Cardiff University by a length gave Bristol their second ever win at Henley Women’s Regatta since 1998.

The senior women’s form has flagged in recent years. This year, however, they have won every regatta they have entered, benefitting enormously from the coaching of first-year Chemistry student Edward Fenn and the enthusiastic support of their captain Caroline Emslie.

The Women's 1st VIII just after their dominant win over Cardiff.

The Senior womens 1st VIII during prize giving.

Less about Henley Women's Regatta 2010

Elite Coxed and Coxless four winners on both Saturday and Sunday. Coach and crew showing off well earned silverware.

The Sunday brought similar results with another two wins and a close miss: The Senior Men’s first VIII again just missed out on a win in the final of the senior division, losing by ¾ length to Upper Thames. The Second Senior Men’s VIII successfully reached the final of the In3 VIIIs to ultimately take a win over Bedford School with a lead of ¾ length. The Senior Men’s top IV competed again in the elite division, this time in a coxed four, but once again rowed their way to a comfortable win over Reading RC in the final by one length.

Less about Reading Amateur Regatta 2010

The victorious UBBC celebrate their varsity victory.

Later that evening, on the dance floor of the Avon Gorge Hotel, the varsity blade was passed from hand to sweaty hand above a heaving mass of rowers, the huge conglomeration of a singing, jumping, alcohol-drinking, ball-gown wearing and semi-naked Boat club. In the grip of euphoria, coursework deadlines and exam timetables were all but forgotten, and the pain of racing had become a distant memory...

The Novice Women had the first race which counted in the competition for the Varsity Blade. Bristol led most of the way and gave absolutely everything they had, but UWE were the better crew on the day and used their final curved advantage to seal a victory for UWE. The Novice Men's First VIII came next, and they were the first to take a victory over UWE: Bristol had a good start and then steadily ate away at the water on their final bend, to lengthen their lead on UWE to equalise the scores in front of cheering supporters.

After two years of UWE victories, the Men's Alumni VIII finally reclaimed victory to put Bristol in a 2-1 lead. With only one more win needed to secure a varsity victory for Bristol, the Senior Women rowed up to the start line...

As UWE's Senior Women had a very good start, Bristol's Women prepared themselves for a difficult struggle, but their preparations proved unnecessary. As the race continued and Bristol steadily built up a four length lead UWE must have realised they were out of the running, and their final advantage at the bend made barely a dent on the gulf of water which stretched out between the two boats.

The Senior Men's First VIII finished off the day by starting (just the once this year) and finishing in style to secure a 4-1 lead over UWE. They then went straight from the finish line to the awards ceremony. After collecting their medals the Senior Men got back into their boat (in a slightly bizarre order) for their final row together as an VIII.

The five competing crews proved Bristol to be better overall than UWE, meanwhile other races proved that Bristol Boat Club were bigger as well. Due to UWE not entering second VIIIs for their Senior and Novice Men, both of Bristol's crews split into fours and raced each other. Bristol also managed to pull together a scratch Women's alumni crew (well, the cox at least was alumni) and, despite losing, put in a good race at less than a day's notice.

The day's events ended with far better relations with UWE than last year, and Bristol hopes there will be many more smooth running varsity races to come. Let's make it 5 - 0 next year!

Less about Varsity 2010

Ben Bathurst in the bow seat.

It was a two day regatta with Ben at bow of a coxless four on both days. On Saturday he won the B final in a scratch crew in fine style, rowing through a Dutch u23 crew in the last 500m.

On Sunday, in a crew that had had a little more practice throughout the previous week, his coxless four won the Senior B race with ease.

Ben brings home a gold medal and valuable international racing experience to Bristol in the run up to Henley and is looking to be selected for the Under 23 World Championships this Summer.

Less about Duisberg 2010

Saturday

The Senior Men kicked off the racing for Bristol on Saturday with VIIIs entered in both the champs and intermediate categories. The Senior Men's First VIII came second to Durham in their first heat despite putting in a very effective push 1K into the race which gave them a third of a length overlap. In the repechage however they came fourth by 0.15s to Newcastle, therefore missing out on the final. The final was dominated by Queen's Belfast, who are an up and coming force in university rowing (Brookes came second, Durham third and Newcastle fourth).

The Senior Men's Second VIII had an exciting final as they battled for third place in some very choppy water created by fast winds; they led over London by half a length until one of the crew caught a minor crab which, by the time they had recovered, put London ahead, however Bristol powered through in the last 250m to take the bronze medal.

The men's novices entered two fours into beginner coxed fours. After being drawn against each other in the heat, both crews got through to the semi final but unfortunately one crew missed out on the final. The first four did not perform as well as hoped and came 6th in the final.

Sunday

Bristol had four boats make it through to their finals and successfully won two of them. The Novice Men's First VIII made the first of the finals, and were disappointed with 5th place after hoping for a medal, although they were happy to have beaten UWE convincingly in the Semis. The novice men's squad had a very busy weekend's racing with 12 races over two days which has provided the squad with a huge amuont of experience in a very short time! The penultimate race of the day saw similar results with Bristol making 5th place in another final, this time from four of the Senior Men's Second VIII who had entered a coxed four.

Making finals is all well and good but Bristol were looking for a win: and the Senior Women were the first to do it. The Senior Women went straight to the final from their first heat which was the fastest of the three at 7 mins 7 secs, and then battled with Durham B in a nail-biting final which ended with Bristol coming out on top by 0.39 seconds and taking the gold medal for intermediate VIIIs.

Whilst the Senior Women were still collecting their medals, four of the Senior Men's First VIII took a gold medal in the Champs coxless fours category. They were cheered from both sides of Holme Pierrepoint as they crossed the finish line with a convincing lead over Newcastle, Oxford Brookes, London, Loughborough and Durham. They had only taken the lead in the second half of the race, but dominated it as soon as they had done so!

Monday

The Bank Holiday Monday did not bring any more medals, however two of the Senior Men's Pairs made it to the finals of both the intermediate and champs division. In addition, a Senior Women's Four made it to the semi-finals, as did the Novice Women. The Novice Women had a tough repechage heat and therefore missed out on the final, meanwhile UWE just made it through to the final in a slower heat, with a time which was only 0.21 seconds ahead of Bristol. The Novice Women have shown huge improvement since the BUCS Beginner's Head in which Bristol were more than a minute and half slower than UWE, and this has given them huge hope and determination to progress one step further to finally beat UWE in the approaching Varsity race.

Less about BUCS 2010

The senior men's 2nd eight.

The 1st VIII were disappointed after a bad row that put them far behind other universities that they had beaten at BUCS. However the 2nd VIII and novice men did exceptionally well and were pleased with two outstanding results. Finishing the head race season on a high note points to a good summer!

Less about HORR 2010

From perfectly normal freshers who fatally stumbled across the rowing recruitment stand at Freshers' Fair we novice women have become lean-mean-erg-loving-machines. It's sad, but true, - the days when we could relate to our peers are over, because mention the 'R' word and you're met with a look of mild respect and significant bemusement, are we insane? They're just jealous.

'Cancellation due to extreme weather conditions' is not a phrase rowers are familiar with. So when we returned from a delightful white Christmas to pre-season training camp a frozen river was no obstacle; blades proved to have a great affinity for the task of ice-braking. Besides, ergs were always on standby if ever the perilous journey to the boathouse were to prove too much.

On the topic of ergs (incidentally, when are ergs not a topic??!) - Whatever happened to the ten minute ergo session on a Monday morning??? It's not that we don't train at the crack of dawn of the week anymore, but that between January and March the length of torture was extended to forty minutes. So what if the men can double this? We want to keep our sanity and when it comes do ergs, at least 40% of the battle must be mental.

It's the same with circuits to a certain extent, which is presumably why Paddy thought it would be a good idea to turn them into a 'song' - to make them sound fun and attractive. Who was he kidding??! Unfortunately neither a verse, whose highlights include Burpese, nor a chorus of squat jumps and high knees, can trick us into feeling anything other than the slow, steady creep of lactic acid invading our bodies.

Nevertheless, we love it! And whilst difficult to explain to anyone without an adrenalin-addiction exactly why this is, the socials go some way to explaining it. First off there are the pre-race dinners; perhaps the only solely female social event on the planet where a girl would be ashamed to consume anything less than double her daily calorie intake. Carbo-loading is the name of the game, though at Kat's house prior to the Avon County Head Race the ratio of pasta to pudding would suggest that the meal was more an excuse to eat gargantuan amounts, than to load on carbs in particular. It's all too easy to forget that it is carbs alone which will benefit performance the next day, and so it was that Rachel and I managed to polish off an entire box of Jelly Babies post-two-course-dinner, before we happened to remember that eating sweets the day before a race was no use whatsoever.

Amongst Laser Quest, Itchy Feet and, of course, Lounge, it's SCORE that stands out as the pinnacle of this terms rowing social calendar. With all-in-one bodysuits from B+Q, a couple of cans of spray paint and an awe-some stencil made by the artist Sinead Connell herself, the novice women's team were transformed into Ghostbusters for the night. As the least glamorous of all teams at the O2 by a mile, we had by far the most fun. The suits gave us maximum flexibility on the dance floor, whilst wearing our Unisuits underneath them (any excuse...) allowed us to undress when we became hot. Meanwhile, to every passerby who asked us 'who you gonna call?', we responded 'UBBC', thus promoting the club whilst having fun. So all in all, both a practical and efficient choice of attire.

When we began rowing at the start of this academic year, novice women had by far the largest squad in the Boat Club. Over the course of the year girls have inevitably left, but I think it's fair to say that few ever really lose touch with the rowing camaraderie, which is, put simply, The Best. Nothing could better evince this than the fact that girls have stood in sodden-wet anoraks and willies, in the extreme weather conditions exclusive to the Boathouse, for hours on end, for the sake of conducting thirty seconds of cheering as their teammates fly past in a boat. Everyone is in it for the other seven rowers in their boat because, let's face it, if we were in it for ourselves alone, we might as well sit on an erg all day.

Besides, after circuits on cold, wet, dark Tuesday and Thursday evenings, it's nice knowing you're not the only one sat at home in Lycra ,with protein-shake in one blister-torn hand, and the Bible that is 'Rowing and Regatta' in the other.

Less about Being a novice

Boating from Putney Town meant only a short warm up to the start, but filled with excitement and nerves both crews were eager to be off as soon as possible. Starting in 73rd position, the Senior Women watched as a Vesta crew behind kept pace with them for most of the way. At one point it seemed like Vesta might be gaining, but when the senior Women's cox spotted UWE up ahead Bristol began to pull away. UWE had started 70th, but Bristol had been slowly gaining on them throughout the race and in the final 750 metres finally overtook them, to finish with more than a length on them. Bristol's Senior Women rowed a successful race to finish 59th out of 289 boats, with a time of 20:27.95 (a minute faster than UWE!) which placed them 9th out of more than 110 crews in IM3 and 6th out of the 52 other university crews in IM3. The Novice Women completed their biggest and longest race to date, finishing 270th, and now look to start picking up their speed over shorter distances in time for regatta season and varsity.

Bristol's Women's squad completed the Head Race season with a WeHoRR and, for the Senior Women in particular, a massive WeHoOO!

Less about WEHORR 2010

On the Sunday, three senior crews raced in the longer 5k race up the very straight and, dare I say it, ever-so-slightly-uninteresting stretch of the river Nene, but unlike the temperate day before, they raced in snowy conditions. The Senior Women found themselves caught up in a blizzard for the first division that morning, and despite almost freezing to death in the long wait before the start of the race, the Women's Senior VIII pulled through to finish a successful 3rd place out of the intermediate VIIIs. Later that day, the Senior Men's First and Second VIIIs repeated the success of the women in their division, quite literally, by both coming third in the championship and intermediate race respectively. The First VIII finished in a time of 15:22, whilst the Second VIII came in with a time of 15:56 which impressively made them faster than more than half of the championship division. After returning from BUCs with three bronze medals, Bristol's senior crews look to be close on the heels of Oxford Brookes and Durham, universities renowned for specialising in rowing. Hopefully, at BUCS events to come, UBBC will be returning with some different coloured medals to add to their collection.

Less about BUCS Head 2010

On rails.

Control at the catch.

Matthew Ridley, UBBC Club Captain and Ben Bathurst, Men's Captain set the rhythm.

Place and drive.

Swinging together.

All photographs taken by Harry Engels - www.harryengels.com

Fewer photographs

Both Novice Women's VIIIs completed the course with their First VIII coming ahead of Vesta's Novice VIII. Meanwhile the Novice Men's VIII were certainly not distracted by the unfamiliar surroundings and rowed spectacularly well in their category by finishing first with a time of 13:01.2, placing them in an impressive 30th position overall.

Women's novice first VIII.

The Senior Squads were also successful, with the Women's VIII coming third in IM3 and the Men's Second VIII going one better to finish second in their IM3 category. Despite a fashionably late start, the Senior Men's First VIII performed particularly well, finishing first in IM2 with a time of 11:51.9 which put them in fourth position overall.

This put them just under 25 seconds slower than the Cambridge crew that came in first. Whilst not spectacular the 1st VIII were pleased and felt that they could have gone faster with a warm up that didn't involve sprinting down to the start line!

Less about Qiuntin Head Race 2009

Although certainly not the biggest nor the most prestigious event on the rowing calendar, the Bristol Head Race is one of the earliest and therefore gives some indication of how the new university teams will perform over the rest of the year. The Head Race also acts as the Novice Rowers' first experience of competitive racing, with all of them having only been in a boat for the first time less than two months previously. Bristol's small stretch of the gentle river Avon found itself besieged by boats from many different universities, including some locals, for example, UWE and Bath as well as some from further afield such as Warwick and Birmingham. Racing began in the rain with Division One for the Senior Men and Women: a race of roughly three and a half kilometres. The Men's first VIII were first to race and started off Bristol's winning streak with a confident lead of 26 seconds over Birmingham, whilst the Bristol Men's Second VIII came second in the Intermediate division ahead of Bath, Bournemouth and many others. Bristol's Senior Women also put in a fantastic performance by winning their entire division, meaning that they beat championship boats as well as those in their Intermediate Division. More than half of the women's First VIII were previously Novices, so with plenty of potential and an impressive beginning to the year, the Senior Women, as well as the Senior Men, look to have a successful year's racing ahead of them.

Matthew Ridley, UBBC Club Captain watches over the novice women's first eight as they boat.

The clouds began to clear and the sun came out whilst everyone stopped for lunch and then the Novice races kicked off with Division 2. The Novices unexpectedly found themselves rowing the one and a half kilometre stretch upstream rather than downstream due to the speed of the river, making the course more tiring than anticipated. Aside from this slight change, the Novice Division saw its usual number of crashes and crabs, but Bristol's six Novice boatfuls put aside their nerves and worked hard to impressive effect. The Novice Women's First VIII came fourth out of the 24 boats which raced, only just missing out on a medal, and the Novice Men did spectacularly well to finish with all three boats in the top five positions, including first and second place.

The UBBC Head Race was brought to a close with a short but sweet Third Division, in which the Seniors raced the shorter course due to vanishing daylight, yet proved their abilities across the board once again. The Senior Women won their division in the Eight and also came second in a Coxless Four. The Senior Men's Second VIII came second amongst the Intermediate category, whilst the First VIII made a valiant effort to catch up with Bristol's Alumni and although they did not overtake, they won the overall division with the Alumni taking second place.

The entire boat club certainly seemed to have built up a thirst after a tough but rewarding day of racing: that night the brilliant results and money-raising were celebrated in a style with a ball where the Seniors and Novices got to know each other a little better, and everyone enjoyed wearing outfits which were slightly more flattering than the lycra all-in-ones they had raced in. After an exciting day of racing and celebrating, the University of Bristol's Boat Club looks set for one its most successful (and sociable) years ever.

Less about UBBC Head Race 2009

Ben McSweeney successfully qualified in the under 23s 2k ergo test with a time of 6:13.8, putting him in 46th position, and Ben Miles got himself a Bristol PB by pulling 6.36 for the lightweight qualifying erg. Unfortunately, both suffered from their lack of sculling experience in the water test, but made a gallant effort despite the windy conditions and more experienced competition. Unfortunately Owen Courtney was unable to make the 6:20 2k required, but showed up reasonably in the sculls anyway. Ben Bathurst finished 47th in the 5k water test (25th of U23s), despite the weather conditions which made various corners extremely difficult and the first 2k very tough to row.

The same race was won with a very impressive result from a man in his late thirties: no less than Greg Searle, who won Gold at the 1992 Olympics in Banyoles in a coxed pair with his brother. And he was not the only old-school rower to re-emerge that weekend with some of the Sydney 2000 VIII also making an appearance.

Ending the trials and BUCS small boats' head on a high note, Ben Bathurst and Matt Ridley had a sprint finish in their pair and ended up in an impressive seventh place above Imperial and boats from Durham and Oxford Brookes.

Overall, Bristol put in some strong performances for the GB trials, and for those who were trialling for the first time it was certainly a challenging, interesting and ultimately valuable experience.

Less about GB Trials and BUCS Small Boats' Head 2009