Rowing

by Sports | May 8th, 2007

Time: Sunday 11.15
Location: York City Boat House

On a cold and windy morning on the River Ouse, York and Lancaster shared the points in a tightly contested series of races.

With home advantage all important in rowing, as the home coxes knew far more about the course than the away ones, confidence was high in the York camp, despite the scheduling mix-up that had left them having to race the day after the BUSA national regatta.

The opening races, the Fresher 4s, had no point’s value but were a good warm-up for the crowd. There was early drama when the rudder broke on the Men’s Fresher boat and it struck the Lancaster boat, the two careening towards the bank. When the problem was fixed, Lancaster streaked to a clear win, easing up at the end, balancing out the win for York in the Women’s Fresher 4.

The next races were the first of the big races, the Senior 4s. The Women gave York a great start as they pulled away from the Lancaster crew throughout their race, extending their lead to 3 lengths by the end of the race, much to the delight of the mostly York crowd.

Unfortunately, the Men could not continue the good start, as they lost a very tight race. Despite coming back from a length down coming into the final straight, the crowd could not lift them to the win and they lost by the narrowest of margins.

The Novice 4s then followed, along with a strange sense of déjà vu for the spectators, as the women stroked confidently to a win, whereas the men fought desperately hard, but were just beaten on the line, just as the seniors had been.

The crowd were then rubbing their eyes in disbelief as the formula was followed once again in the Senior 8s, with the women winning well and the men losing another very close race. One observer noted that ‘the women rowed better than they ever thought was possible’, while the delighted Women’s Captain, Sarah declared she was just ‘pleased to have contributed to York’s bid for the Roses trophy’.

Men’s Freshers 4: Lancaster win
Men’s Novice 4 :York 0 - Lancaster 2
Men’s Senior 4: York 0 - Lancaster 4
Men’s Senior 8: York 0 - Lancaster 4
Women’s Freshers 4:York win
Women’s Novice 4:York 2 - Lancaster 0
Women’s Senior 4:York 4 - Lancaster 0
Women’s Senior 8:York 4 - Lancaster 0