Novice men claim victory as Boat Club warm up for Henley
The men's novice four in action at Peterborough. Photograph by Becca Kay
The last two weeks have proved to be rather busy for the UYBC’s squads. On the weekend of week six – well remembered within England as the hottest weekend of the year so far – UYBC headed for the horizons of Peterborough and Dorney Lake, Eton.
No one racing at Peterborough regatta – a one kilometre, four lane lake – can say that UYBC did not do York University proud, with special commendation going to the Novice Men’s eight, who won their event with great ease. This was the first time the boys had won a race, resulting in the loss of their novice status. Fellow teammate in the IM3 eight and coach to the boys, Ben Coverdale, was like a proud father when greeting them off the water. From this success and others to be described later, his response to us was ‘Bring on Henley!’ The day saw some members of the novice men’s crew race six times, which is a very impressive feat.
The IM3 eight lined up against Leeds University, Cygnet and Warwick in their first heat and coming through from a length down at 250m in, they managed to comfortably beat Leeds by five seconds to go straight through to the final where they came a very impressive third. Later in the day there were two fours that raced – an IM3 four who made it to the semi-finals and a novice four who went into the final as the fastest qualifiers but came fourth due to fatigue from their previous exertions of the day. All in all, an exceptionally good day for the boys!
The novice and senior women also put themselves on the map at Peterborough. The novice women made it to the semi-finals but were unfortunately knocked out due to technical seat issues. The Im3 eight fared better, making it to the final where they came an impressive third.
While half of the senior women were battling at Peterborough, the 1st eight were sent to Met. The Metropolitan Regatta, more commonly known as ‘MET’ is seen by the rowing community as the warm-up to the Henley Royal Regatta. It provides a chance for Universities and rowing clubs from all over Britain to eye each other up and psyche each other out. The event was held this year at Dorney Lake, the Eton College Rowing Centre, which for those interested, is the lake which the rowing events during the London 2012 Olympics will be held.
The winning men’s crew celebrate losing their novice status at Peterborough. Photograph by Becca Kay.
The Saturday started off as it meant to carry on, baking hot, humid and with plenty of anticipation. This regatta attracts rowers from all backgrounds, from local clubs to GB athletes, promising tough and exciting competition. For UYBC’s women’s squad, racing in the Intermediate 2 Eights division, there was a slight hitch just before boating for the first heat when the cox-box refused to function normally and unfortunately time was not on their side. The 1st eight raced the 2000m race course superbly, qualifying for the repechage with only half a crew able to hear coxswain, Ngaio Simpson, due to the failure of the cox-box. Bow girl Lara Wainwright courageously took on the task of shouting encouragement and calls to the bow four of the boat, and the 1st eight held off some opposition and secured an honourable fourth place, still giving them a change of getting through to the final.
In the repechage heat, the 1st eight were faster than any UYBC women’s crew has been for a few years. Women’s captain Sophie Mottram said: “I am extremely proud of the girls – they’ve worked so hard this year and really showed what they’re made of this weekend”. Let’s hope that Henley, the weekend of week eight, will prove to be as, if not more, successful.
The weekend of week seven was the boys’ turn to compete in their ‘Henley warm up’ race. This, however, was at Durham. The boys draw was extremely unlucky – coming up against the Netherlands national team who were eventual finalists. However, losing to them by just a length is a very good platform to build on for these last few weeks of training and, after Peterborough it shows they have massive potential.
The whole of UYBC wish their crews racing at Henley and Women’s Henley in the next two weeks good luck!
Crews:
Men’s Novice 8: Freddy Dawes, Richard Nixon, James Finn, Sam Agass, Ollie Oates, Tim Lowdon, Karl Slater, Ed Talbot and cox Alice Taylor
Men’s IM3 8: Freddy Dawes, Ben Coverdale, Karl Slater, Sam Agass, Ollie Oates, Richard Nixon, James Finn, Teddy O’Brien and cox Alice Taylor
Men’s IM3 4: Freddy Dawes, Ben Coverdale, Ollie Oates, Teddy O’Brien and cox Alice Taylor
Men’s novice 4: James Finn, Richard Nixon, Karl Slater, Sam Agass and Alice Taylor
Women’s Novice 8: Becca Kay, Sara Rider, Marie Mills, Steph Jones, Naomi Harte, Zoe Garnett , Tasha Behan, Emma Bartlett and cox Ellie Cooper
Women’s IM3 8: Becca Kay, Pippa Maloney, Tasha Behan, Charlotte Lane, Sarah Powell, Sara Rider, Naomi Harte, Molly O’Neill and cox Ellie Cooper
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Good effort to the other 5 UYBC lads racing at Met in the composite 8+ with York City Rowing Club. You did well too. Glad to see the article covered this as well…