Boat club tastes success again at BUCS Head Race in Chester
The University Boat Club once again proved more than a match for some of the country’s best crews last weekend, recording some fine results at the BUCS Head Race at Chester. This mammoth event brought together clubs from all across the North to compete for crucial BUCS points and gauge abilities against opponents of similar standing. Encouragingly for York ahead of next term’s Roses contest with Lancaster, and also the BUCS Regatta, the men’s senior eights, women’s senior eights and women’s novice eights performed superbly in their respective categories.
In the men’s senior eights, York finished second in their division, 22 seconds behind leaders Durham, and fifth out of all the universities competing. Divisions were arranged by experience and previous successes, with York finishing ahead of Manchester, Liverpool and Lancaster universities in their grouping, and Loughborough, Sheffield and Bangor on the overall leaderboard.
The senior women’s crew were narrowly pipped by Lancaster in their category, by a time of 20 minutes, 6 seconds to 20 minutes, 17 seconds. Nevertheless, York finished well ahead of the crews from Leeds, Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam universities and, importantly with BUCS points at stake, ahead of Manchester University, who were placed in a higher division.
Although no BUCS points were on offer, the women’s novice crew continued their excellent form this year with a third place finish, behind strong Newcastle and Durham teams. In addition, the novice B crew finished in 11th position.
The successful competition in Chester comes off the back of last weekend’s encouraging results in Head of the River events in York and London, auguring well for forthcoming summer term events and, given the performances of the novice crews, the long-term future of the club.
Club President Hugh Pryce said to Nouse afterwards: “This was another fantastic performance for the club. Both the men’s and women’s senior eights did brilliantly, beating many top rowing universities. The results are extremely promising for the BUCS Regatta and Roses next term.”
Men’s Senior Eights (top two pictures): Left to right – Ben Proctor, Sebastian
Allen, Joshua Clarke, Jordan Huey Abbott, Jonathan Appleton, Tom Bulpitt,
Miguel Holloway, Joseph Briggs
Women’s Senior Eights (second from bottom): left to right – Ellie Donaldson, Naomi Longfield,
Clare Sapsed, Amelia Fairburn Beech, Irene Sieberger, Ele Wilson, Charlotte
Bentley, Becca Robinson, Jess White
Women’s Senior Eights 2 (bottom): left to right – Charlotte MacDonald, Becca
Melville, Alexandra Hassall, Raeesa Chowdhury, Alix Odgers
With thanks to Hugh Pryce
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Men’s Senior Eight:
Will Lawrence, Ben Coverdale, Jack Savage, Dan Steele, Dane Moore, Edd Davenport, John Underwood, James Coldwell (c). Cox Ashley Haycock
Top picture is senior men’s eight, as named above. Second is actually the novice men’s eight, which the article names as senior men’s eight. Third picture is not senior women, but novice women’s second boat, named in article as the first senior women’s eight. The novice women’s first boat consisted of: Sarah Collins, Charlotte Lane, Katharina Auersperg, Hannah Kirton, Louisa Parry, Rachel Batho, Claire Kayser, Lara Wainwright, RJ Dobinson (cox).