Derwent victorious in College Rowing Tournament

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On Sunday evening, the Roger Kirk Centre played host to the first ever College Rowing Tournament in which Derwent emerged victorious after edging out Halifax.

The atmosphere throughout the evening was absolutely fantastic and each college had really good attendance. Once the rowing was over, several college teams took part in a drinking boat race, a fun additional pre-Revs drink. Although it didn’t count towards the final points, each college participating took it seriously.

College relay teams of 4x500m competed on four rowing machines hooked up to a big screen where spectators could watch the rowers’ progress.

The first competitors were Alcuin, Derwent, Goodricke and Halifax women’s teams. Halifax flew ahead at tremendous speed and won the heat, followed closely by Alcuin then Derwent and finally Goodricke in fourth place.

Next were Langwith, James and Vanbrugh. Vanbrugh started off strongly but were unable to maintain their speed while James took the lead. Langwith’s Katherine Peeke-Vout took the final leg of the relay, finding herself 25m behind James as she started her 500m stint. She powered through and managed to pull herself ahead of James, impressively winning the competition and bringing Langwith into first place.

Overall in this relay, Halifax came first with a time of 07:30.8 followed closely by Langwith in 2nd and James in 3rd place.

The men’s 4x500m came next with a strong Derwent side participating. Derwent’s spectators supported the rowers with spurring college chants and led the boys to a victorious win rowing 2000m in a spectacular time of 05:55.9. James came a close second at 06:08.3 followed by Halifax out of the seven competing colleges.

The final competition of the evening was the mixed-team race consisting of four  boys and four girls, each with 500m once again to row. Derwent sped ahead for a second time and finished the 4000m in a time of 13:57.4 and Alcuin came second in 14:09.0, securing them third place overall.

The second heat was made up of Langwith, James and Vanbrugh. James and Langwith were still in contention for the top three positions but were unable to beat Derwent’s fantastic time; Langwith finished in 14:26.3 and James in 14:38.0. These times confirmed what Derwent had been waiting for, confirmation that they had won the second of two inter college tournaments for this term.

Derwent Sports Rep, Simon Varley, told Vision: “College Rowing was the best tournament I have personally been involved in. People who would not normally come down for one day tournmanets or college sport came along and all took part. The spirit in which Derwent came back to retain its unbeaten run of one day tournments was my moment of the year and why I will always be proud to be in Derwent and is one of the reasons I have decided to run for Chair of this college. Thanks to everyone who came down to row or just support – ‘oarsome’ performance”.

College Sports Officer Amy Ballard said:  “It was a really fun night – Meg and I have been planning it all term! Thankfully all the technology ran smoothly and all the colleges contributed to make it a successful event. Well done Derwent!”. Megan Phillips added: “We would like to thank all the rowers, and, as always, the sports reps for all the hard work they put in, on the night and the weeks leading up to it. It has been such a successful night.”