Bank holiday weekend saw a sea of purple invading Nottingham’s National water sports centre to compete at this year’s BUCS regatta. A beautiful day on the Saturday brought about some brilliant results for the club; both the novice men’s 4’s and novice women’s 8 reached the final of their beginner event with the men gaining a very respectable 3rd and 4th place whilst the women’s VIII finished 5th. The senior men’s squad pulled in the first points of the weekend finishing 5th in the championship 8’s final, gaining 5 points.  An achievement made all the more impressive after having a tough route to the final knocking out UWE, and Newcastle among others and being unlucky in drawing Cambridge in both the heat and the semi.  The Cambridge boat containing half of the crew that rowed in the boat race went on to win the final, beating Oxford Brookes.

Monday’s racing however was over shadowed with extremely difficult weather conditions bringing about a break in racing and leading to many straight finals from heats. The Manchester 4’s did well enough in their heats to secure a place in the final though. The Men’s 4 finished 6th struggling in the weather conditions out in lane 2; despite this they got 3 points for their efforts. The women’s 4 battled through their heat while other boats took on water and got through to the final to finish 3rd, receiving a bronze championship medal and 10 points. The total 18points we earned from the weekend is yet another improvement on last year’s performances and a sure sign that club can only go forward. An endorsement from event commentators on our striking purple kit can only help!!!

The University Rowing Club last weekend raced for their part in the Christie Cup and demonstrated an incredible show of power for Rowing Clubs in the North West. The Christie Cup is inter-university all-sport competition between the universities of Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.

The event which took place on the 21st February was raced at Runcorn, home to Liverpool University rowing, and was held as a time-trial event as is the usual practice in the spring season before the summer sprinting season. Up against usual North-West rivals Liverpool and Leeds, the Men raced home to win a whole minute and a half quicker than their competition, whilst the Women won in an astonishing 3 minute gap. As to be expected after the recent weather spells, it was very cold, and very windy.

The Women’s 1st VIII, who in 2008 were beaten by Leeds University at Henley Women’s Regatta, won in a time of 25:52, with Leeds clocking a time of 28:37, and Liverpool even further behind. The Men’s 1st VIII won the three points for their part of the Cup in a time of 21:04, with Leeds coming home in 22:30, and Liverpool in 23:09. Stroked by Men’s Captain Alex Mack, and backed up by President Nick Turnbull, who set the rhythm, the VIII went down the course at a solid 32 strokes per minute, and dealt with the tricky wind conditions admirably. The teams were also awarded with Quickest Crew of the Day and Quickest Female crew of the day respectively.

These results continue the rowing club’s success in the 08/09 season, where we have recorded victories in at least one event for every competition we have entered bar one (The ‘Fours Head’ a national event racing alongside Olympians!)  The weekend of the 14/15th February was meant to be the BUCS spring head race, again in time-trial format, where we had hoped to bolster our success with well deserved BUCS points. However, the event was cancelled due to heavy snow and dangerously fast waters. The unofficial version took place in a separate venue, where the Manchester Men stormed home to victory by 4 seconds ahead of Nottingham University, though naturally this event was not open to BUCS points!

The race at Runcorn was also open to our novices, who have been working steadfastly on improving their rowing since the first time they stepped in a boat last September, coached by volunteer student coaches, Ryan Petrucci and Laura Piplica. The Novice Men and Women are the life-blood of the university rowing, usually the soul of the after-party as well, and their strength this year should guarantee club success for the next few years.

The Novice Men, stroked by rising star George Oehlert, won their un-pointed Christie Competition in a time of 24:06; under a minute behind Liverpool 1st VIII, and over 20 seconds quicker than the Leeds Novices, who had beaten them the previous week by 6 seconds. The Novice Women, who had recorded quick times the week before, were unfortunately struck by equipment failure, which is a constant risk in rowing. However their fast times in training demonstrate that there will be many more opportunities for victory.

In the upcoming weeks, the clubs will compete at both the Head of the River Race and the Women’s Head of the River Race, both of which draw rowing clubs from throughout the UK, as well as top European competition.  Last year the Men’s 1st VIII managed to secure the best position in the club’s history, finishing in 45th place, and the team hope to emulate this success in 2009. Competition may be stronger this year however, as it has been announced that a ‘super star’ crew of the 8 best international Olympic rowers in the world are forming a composite boat for the event. They will be competing with the majority of the GB Silver and Gold medallists from the Beijing Olympic squad for the coveted top spot. That a university crew can race in the same competition as these Elite Athletes is one of the main attractions of the Head of the River Race.

The Rowing Club is organising a 24 hour charity row on the 23-24th March for Sport Relief. It will be held outside the Academy on Oxford Road. The Two Cities Boat race against Varsity rivals Salford University Boat Club has been scheduled for the 10th May 2009.

 Men 1st VIII:
Jules Harrison, Alex Mack, Nick Turnbull, Yousef Munif, Ian Lester, Ryan Petrucci, Francis Randall, Simon Scott, Darren Staniforth

Women’s 1st VIII
Annie Chapman, Lucy Flaherty, Chloe Roberts, Holly Dudeney, Elaine Chew, Charlotte May, Kathyrn Milligan, Helly Freeman, Hannah Lee-Gill

Manchester University Boat Club started the season in style at Dee Autumn Head, the annual time trial took place on the river Dee in Chester and Manchester’s senior rowers dominated both divisions’ with the 1st men’s 8+ of Alex Mack, Nick Turnbull, Chris Tait, Francis Randall, Yousef Munif, Darren Staniforth, Simon Scott, Ian Lester and Tom Humber (cox) clocking the fastest time of the day over the 4km course. The Women’s squad were also successful in the s3 4+ and s4 8+ divisions with both crews winning their categories’, building on earlier successes at Agecroft head where they won the s2 4+ category that proves their potential for further victories in the year.

Following the men’s success in Chester three coxed fours were entered in the Fullers Head of the River Fours, which was raced along the reverse of the Oxbridge boat race course in London. The top men’s four of Alex Mack, Nick Turnbull, Chris Tait, Ian Lester and Jules Harrison (cox) completed the 7km course in a time of 20.32 beating the best efforts of university’s such as Leeds, UWE, Nottingham and Edinburgh, The fastest time of the day in a coxed four was posted by Cambridge University not only beating our boys but beating local club Molesey who had Olympic gold medallist Andrew Triggs Hodge in the stroke seat of their top four.

Back in Manchester the new intake of novice rowers have been training hard to keep up the clubs brilliant history of finding new rowing talent, on the weekend of the 6th and 7th of December 10 novice men’s 8s and 6 novice women’s 8s made their way to the Salford quays for the MUBC annual Novice Race Day, a chance for the novice rowers to race side by side on the Two Cities Boat Race course. The day was a massive success with crew 10 from the men and crew 5 from the women winning in the end. Pictures should be up in the gallery soon!

They have also been enjoying the delights of MUBC socials, including such activities as taking over a curry house in Rusholme with 120+ people and discovering that eating Indian cuisine is made a lot more interesting when tied to a member of the opposite sex. Further opportunities for bonding will no doubt be plentiful at this year’s ‘Waterball’ to be held at Deansgate locks revolution with other water based clubs such as surf and canoe!