Fours Head: Boat Race Crews in Action

This weekend will see the annual Fuller’s Head of the River Fours taking place over the same course as The BNY Mellon Boat Races, the Championship Course on the Tideway in London.

Raced in the opposite direction to The Boat Races, from Mortlake to Putney, the crews will compete in four-person boats in a time trial fashion; the only event in the season where both pairs of squads can be directly compared. The coaches will use the event as a test of their athlete’s abilities and an early indicator for crew selection.

Cambridge University Boat Club have not had the fastest Boat Race Fours Head crew since 2008, but a line-up including the stern three from their 2014 Blue Boat along with returning Blue, cox Ian Middleton and 2014 Henley winner Jasper Holst (Cambridge Univ I) will set out to change this. Oxford’s top boat (Isis II) also features a returning stern-three from The 2014 BNY Mellon Boat Race including President Constantine Louloudis, with the addition of GB U23 athlete James Cook and former Harvard cox William Hakim. Both crews will enter Elite 4+ and be chased by a Leander crew wholly consisting of current world champions including Tom Ransley (Cambridge Blue 2008, 2009) and Pete Reed (Oxford Blue 2004, 2005). Alexander Leichter, the Cambridge President, will race in Cambridge Univ II. In total, both Clubs have entered five crews: four coxed fours and one coxless four each.

Oxford University Women’s Boat Club have entered three crews, including two coxed fours and a coxless quad. Their first entry (Oxford University Women’s BC I) sees three returning Blues including President Anastasia Chitty and also first-year cox in Jennifer Ehr. OUWBC had the edge over their Cambridge rivals at the Fours Head last year and will hope to maintain momentum in the lead up to The 2015 Newton Women’s Boat Race. Their lead four will be chasing Chitty’s GB U23 crew-mate and Cambridge rival Melissa Wilson’s four in W Elite 4+. The crew (Cambridge Univ Women I), steered by 2014 Goldie cox Rosemary Ostfeld, start behind an Imperial College coxed four that includes 2014 Isis cox Sophie Shawdon. Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club have entered five crews, including one coxless four. President Caroline Reid starts number 370 (Cambridge Univ Women IV) in a crew entirely comprising of returning triallists.

Racing will start at 09:45 Saturday 1st November – more information can be found at www.hor4s.org.uk. The BNY Mellon Boat Races will take place on April 11th 2015. The BNY Mellon Boat Race will take place at 5:50pm and The Newton Women’s Boat Race at 4:50pm.

Crews (in start order):

*denotes Blue, + Isis/Goldie/Osiris/Blondie, ~Lightweight Boat Race

Elite 4-
Isis I (Crew Number 28):
I. MANDALE+
J. MOUNTAIN+
H. GOODIER
J. STEPHENSON+

Elite 4+
Isis II (30):
S. O CONNOR*
M. DISANTO*
J. COOK
C. LOULOUDIS*
W. HAKIM (cox)

Cambridge Univ I (31):
J. HOLST
M. JACKSON*
J. HOOPER*
H. HOFFSTOT*
I. MIDDLETON* (cox)

Isis III (33):
M. GERLAK
J. O CONNOR
W. GEFFEN+
T. SWARTZ*
S. COLLIER (cox)

Cambridge Univ II (37):
B. RUBLE
A. ABBASI
W. WARR
A. LEICHTER+
H. RAMAMBASON (cox)

Cambridge Univ III (39):
C. BLACK+
C. AUERSPERG
B. PARSONS
L. JUCKETT*
K. KLAVENES (cox)

Isis IV (42):
J. ABDALLA
J. WHITE
D. GRANT
R. STIRLING
L. HARVEY* (cox)

Isis V (46):
L. KIRWIN
C. THURSTON
D. PARR
J. TVEIT
H. FORSHAW (cox)

SEN 4-

Cambridge Univ IV (53):
F. NEWMAN+
A. KNIGHTS+
C. FISHERP. KASAS

W Elite 4+

Cambridge Univ Women I (68)
F. BELAIS
H. ROBERTS+
M. WILSON*
D. MARTSCHENKO
R. OSTFELD+ (cox)

Oxford University Womens BC I (69)
A. CHITTY*
C. HEEMSKERK
A. CARRINGTON-WINDO*
A. DE VERE*
J. EHR (cox)

Oxford University Womens BC II (72)
M. BADCOTT
E. REYNOLDS
N. GRAEDEL IBERG*
C. DAVIES
E. WYSOCKI-JONES* (cox)

IM2 4+

Cambridge Univ V (239)
M. CHIPPING
B. EVANS+
J. CARROLL
P. ELWOOD
A. GUPTA+ (cox)

W IM1 4x-

Oxford University Womens BC III (297)
C. GREVES
L. KEDAR*
R. SIDDORN
M. SCHESKE*

W IM1 4-

Cambridge Univ Women II (333)
E. BARNARD~
E. CLIFTON~
S. LUCAS
A. PERRIN

W IM1 4+

Cambridge Univ Women IV (370)
C. REID*
H. GAME*
C. WATKINS*
H. EVANS+
W. MCDERMOTT+ (cox)

Cambridge Univ Women V (373)
I. VYVYAN*
A. BROWN
G. JOHANSSON+
C. FOOT*
P. CROSBY~ (cox)

W IM2 4+

Cambridge Univ Women VI (393)
P. BLUNDELL
E. BOETTCHER
K. BERKEMEYER
D. GOMERSALL
E. GRAY (cox)

Correct as of 31/10/14