BUCS 4s and 8s Head
Only a week on from Head of the Trent, the whole club
Saturday
The novices set off the weekend, with our men’s squad kicking off the event for the club in their 8. The boys pulled of a solid 5th place behind some incredibly strong crews from Surrey, Queens Belfast, East Anglia and Bath. Importantly for them, after losing to Leeds last weekend at Head of the Trent they turned it over, improving to finish ahead this week.
Inspired by the men’s 8, the novice women boated for the afternoon division, and showed they had another gear to come from last week as well. They took a second place finish to win the silver, and just over a second behind Durham, were well clear of the rest of the field.
Both of these are fantastic results from the squads. The coaches and club alike are excited to see how the crews progress between now and BUCS regatta where they’ll race side by side against this opposition, on home turf.
Sunday
With a concentrated effort on Saturday over, the seniors would return to demonstrate the continued depth developing with Sunday’s divisions.
The seniors also improved on last weekend’s performance, came away with 5th place in the championship category. After the longest wait on the water behind the first two divisions, the lightweight women’s quad went out with sights on a medal, and returned with the silver and a tidy row for the conditions three hours later.
Continuing the competition for the season, the men’s coxless fours battled each other down the course for the time trial. Picking up 5th and 6th in the championship category the squad showed again how they are moving on together over past years. Work still to be done on handling conditions, but some good squad competition will now mix together again for the next part of the season. In the lightweights, similar to the women, they fours headed out seeking medals after last year’s performance. Echoing the competition in the heavyweights, both crews demonstrated a move on as a group, this time with the men picking up silver and 6th place.
The intermediates from both squads strung together good rows in the increasingly challenging conditions for a great set of results, and sets a mark to work on from for the regatta in May.
After a tough but successful morning of racing, the 3rd and 4th division were suspended and ultimately cancelled with the deteriorating weather conditions and challenge to the schedule.
On behalf of all the athletes racing this weekend I send thanks to the supporters in the wind and rain on the bank, helping out with boats and equipment, and raising spirits when they were needed. The work started months ago, but it was a particularly long weekend for the coaches in Gloucester. My thanks for the continued effort in all conditions coordinating the squads and providing all the support needed to achieve the medals at another successful BUCS Head.
Next up are the women’s and men’s Head of the River Races down in London on the reverse Boat Race course. This year the events run on separate weekends, but will wrap up at the end up March and mark the end of the head season for the club, ahead of the Easter training camp and BUCS regatta in May.