United Hospitals' Novice Sprints 2017! Winners again

A freezing cold day and an 8am arrival signalled the start of the racing season for 24 BLBC freshers. The first race of the day was the fresher women’s first boat who were taking on ICSM 1. After a dramatic crab in the second stroke of the start (which nearly gave this fresher captain a heart attack) they recovered beautifully to win by nearly a length and a half. The girls‘ second race was Georges 1, again they were slightly behind off the start but found their rhythm and power to come through with a second win by half a length. In the nail-biting final against RUMS 1 the girls lost by just a canvas, after drawing ahead by half a length and fighting over inches at the finish line.

The men’s first boat faced GKT1 in their first race and beat them solidly with a whole length of clear water between them. Much like the women they faced Georges 1 in their semi-final and again beat them easily with 1.5 lengths between the boats at the finish line. The final was once again against the same opponent: RUMS 1. Observing the racing at flood tide RUMS looked to be drawing ahead but by the finish line the boys had beaten them by half a length to take home the medals.

The mixed crew also put up a brave fight for their race (which also happened to be their first outing as a crew) but ultimately lost to Georges 1 (whom the men's crew would later take their revenge on). The racing crews were as follows:

Novice Men's 1st - WINNERS

• Cox - Jess Challenger
• Stroke - Ben Johnson
• 7 - Robert Good
• 6 - Alex Deighton
• 5 - Milo Simpson
• 4 - Jamie Henderson
• 3 - Joseph Johnson
• 2 - Skyler Tian Ren Ye
• Bow - Adam Mitchell

Novice Women's 1st - FINAL

• Cox - Rocio Crispin
• Stroke - Sreya Gooptu-O'Shea
• 7 - Olivia Dupere
• 6 - Alice Gant
• 5 - Tamsin Dyer
• 4 - Caroline Olabisi
• 3 - Sveva de Luca
• 2 - Samia Omar
• Bow - Alice Westlake

Novice Crew Mixed

• Cox - Mathew Robathan
• Stroke - Aamir Saiyed
• 7 - James Ogley
• 6 - Alex Haiser
• 5 - Andreas Andreou
• 4 - Jessica Froggatt
• 3 - Tillana Tarkas
• 2 - Amanda Hertzberg
• Bow - Vrinda Nadda

Women's Season Update

With the Easter break approaching, the tough Head racing season is well and truly over. Despite the sun finally making an appearance this also marks the end of the rowing year for many of our pre-clinical members and those on the allied health courses. This may be the end of the 2017 head races, but the BLBC ladies are ready to push forwards further in future years.

At the Women’s Eights Head of The River our 1st and 2nd VIIIs finished 175th and 261th of 293 crews, all the hard work and effort put it on the ergs and on the water by all athletes shone through. Kingston Head saw similarly amazing results with the 1st boat and the 3rd boat placing 81st and 111th out of 135 crews in their division. There are some incredible photos attached of the dramatic races, with credit to Robert Treharne Jones for capturing the 2nd VIII clashing with Imperial College at WeHoRR.

Crews for WeHoRR:

Crews for Kingston:

Due to unfortunate timing clashes with exams over several different courses, we won’t be able to participate in the many upcoming regattas over summer but look forward to ending an incredible year at the UH Bumps races on 20th and 21st May.

As my time as women’s captain draws to a close, I have time to reflect on how proud I am to have been part of a club that consists of dedicated girls, willing to put hours of sweat and energy to achieve their goals. The grit shown by all the girls, seniors and novices have allowed us to enter 2 or 3 boats in all of the 7 races over the year so far – limited mainly by lack of physical boats. Of course, this couldn’t have been achieved without the diligent work of all our student coaches and the whole committee.

I would like to thank everyone in the boat club for allowing me to be a part of what has most certainly been the most successful year for the women of BLBC. Given the solid foundations built in the last 2 years, I am very optimistic for the future and am confident that we can better our results – with the real possibility of a future BLBC crew qualifying for Henley Women’s Regatta & taking part in British Universities and Colleges Sport rowing events.

Tanya Hossain
Women's Captain

Allom Cup

Being the day after Christmas dinner, Allom Cup was going to be a struggle for many, but the Mens 1st and Novice VIII’s turned up bright and early aiming to finish the term on a high.
With the first race of the Mens senior category BL Vs ICSM it was all to play for in the first race, with ICSM unfortunately winning by one seat, and continuing to win the cup.
The novice boat however continued their winning streak form the previous week and beat RUMS, UCL A, UCL B and Royal Holloway to win the novice category. The icing on the cake was their medals being presented by Rio 2016 gold medallist and former UL athlete Paul Bennett from the GB Men’s VIII. With head season approaching, it’s looking to be a hotly contested year. Watch this space.