By Becca Robinson
On Saturday the 31st, the top boats from the senior men and women’s squads, plus a composite double with York City Rowing Club travelled to Newcastle to compete in Tyne Head.
The conditions were much more favourable than the previous week’s wind and driving rain at Tees and they provided for much success. The double, consisting of York Universities’ senior men’s captain, Dan Steele, and graduate ex-Yorker Jack Savage set the bar high in the morning by winning their category, and they were the fastest men’s boat of the morning, an amazing achievement considering the competition.
The 4s then raced in the afternoon, unfortunately against the tide so the usual lengthy 5000m took a gruelling 3 minutes longer. The men went off first, with the crew of Dan Steele, Oscar Neilson, John Appleton and Ben Coverdale with Cox Ashley Haycock. They comfortably won their category and were the 5th fastest men’s crew of the afternoon.
The girls then took to the water with a slightly different crew than last week of Hannah Kirton, Charlotte Bentley, Becca Robinson and Sophie Mottram, with Cox Ngaio Simpson. They came in a very respectable 3rd place, losing extremely narrowly to Butler College, Durham University and Tyne United Boat Club, whose victory was expected considering they were on their home ground.
These results bode well for the boys racing four’s head of the river in 2 weeks and York Small Boats for both teams, on the 17th November. We hope to see almost every boat we enter win that day – so bring on the training!
