By Emily Harrington
White Rose Head
On Saturday 29th January, the University of York Boat Club hosted the first event of its kind to be held on the River Ouse – the White Rose Head. The aim of the regatta was to bring Yorkshire universities closer together, giving them the opportunity to compete with each other in a smaller environment than regattas are usually held in.
The event was organised by senior women Rebecca Kay and Laura Macfarlane, with the help of Rob Cree from British Rowing and rowers at York City Rowing Club, in particular Gill Porteus.
The competing universities were originally supposed to be York, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield Hallam and York St. John. Unfortunately, York St. John pulled out at the last minute, and the Sheffield Hallam bus broke down on the way to York. However, the event still went ahead, and the remaining three universities battled it out over a 3000 metre stretch to go down in history for winning the first race of its kind to be held in Yorkshire.
The senior women’s 1st V111 won their race, while the senior women’s 2nd V111 came second place. Leeds women won the V1, a category in which the UYBC women did not race in due to lack of crews.
Ngaio Simpson, senior women’s captain and cox of the first V111 was delighted with the performance of the senior women, “the White Rose Head has been a huge success, I am so pleased with the results and very proud that the two organisers are in my crews”.
The men’s four race was the most competitive and exciting, resulting in a dead heat between York and Leeds.
Men’s captain John Appleton said “I think the day was a massive success and it is always nice to come away with a win but I think that the club has really benefitted from the experience and it was great fun to get out and race with the rest of Yorkshire’s universities.”
BUCS
The BUCS Head Race was held at Peterborough, Cambridgeshire on Saturday 19th February. UYBC took two mens and two womens crews, from both novice and senior squads.
The novice men’s VIII of Chris Morgan, Ed Grande, Ed Scobie, Mike Page, Reece Clough, Rob Mills, Will Fane-Gladwin, Paul Ong and Lara Wainwight (Cox), came 22nd out of 48 teams, with a time of 10.15.8.
The senior men’s intermediate coxed VI came 20th out of 37, and 16th out of 34 in the intermediate VIII division.
The VIII beat Leeds, turning the tables from two weeks previously at the White Rose Head, and both senior men’s crews beat Lancaster in their respective divisions, giving UYBC the upper hand in time for Roses 2011. John Appleton (Senior Men’s Captain) reported that both men’s crews raced well and came off the water with plenty of enthusiasm to get back into training to develop on the performance of the day.
The women’s squad saw similar success, with the senior women’s first VIII coming 5th out of 14 crews with a time of 18:34.1, and impressively there were just 5 seconds between them and second place!
The women’s second VIII also performed well with the crew of Francesca Charlton-Jones, Tamara Bowler, Eloisa Cackett, Alice Duton, Amelia Allen, Jo Holand, Amy Finch and Evelien Rutgers and cox Ngaio Simpson came 25th out of 34 crews with a time of 12:06.3.
UYBCs performances this year have been outstanding, given the competition being significantly better funded and resourced. Senior women’s captain, Ngaio Simpson said she was extremely proud of the women’s performances, and is looking forward to Women’s Head of the River later this term, and next term especially Roses 2011. John Appleton added “as underdogs we are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with”.