Winning Starts to Tideway Season
All four Boat Race squads return home with wins from Fuller’s Head of the River Fours.
The Oxford University Boat Club have successfully defended the Elite coxed four title at the Fuller’s Head of the River Fours for the second consecutive season. Cambridge University Boat Club similarly won their third coxless four pennant in as many years. Oxford’s Women have returned with two victories, one each from sculling and rowing classes, whilst Cambridge Women won Intermediate coxless fours.
OUBC’s top crew gave President Constantine Louloudis his third win in three years at the Fours Head, defeating strong Molesey and Leander crews which included leading Great Britain internationals. By completing the course in 18:30, Isis II won the event by almost five seconds. This was however a stand-out crew, as unlike Oxford, Cambridge’s crews in Elite 4+ were all relatively closely matched, implying a strength in depth that is likely to make for strong competition for racing seats in April.
In the coxless events Cambridge (Cambridge Univ IV) won the Senior 4- event, to claim their third coxless win in as many years. The crew, containing 2014 Goldie stern pair Angus Knights and Felix Newman, won a closely fought contest by a little over two seconds. Isis I in Elite 4- placed second behind a Leander four containing three lightweight GB internationals.
Oxford University Women’s Boat Club returned with two pennants, in the Elite coxed four (WElite 4+) and Intermediate 1 quadruple scull (WIM1 4x-). OUWBC achieved first and second places in the Elite coxed four event with an overall winning time of 20:30, to hold off a mix of GB squad members and triallists in chasing Imperial and Leander combinations – thirteen and four seconds ahead of the nearest competition respectively. Cambridge’s Elite four finished in 5th. The quadruple scull event, including 2014 Dark Blue President Maxie Scheske and Blue Lauren Kedar, was much more tightly contested and the Oxford winning margin was a little over two seconds.
In the women’s coxless four events, Cambridge won the Intermediate 1 category by a substantial eleven seconds. Containing a number of lightweight athletes including Emma Clifton (a Lightweight Boat Race winner for Oxford), Cambridge (Cambridge Univ Women II) put a significant margin into their opposition to ensure all four clubs took home a victory.
The results indicate strong starts from all four clubs and give the coaches some early indicators of an athlete’s ability to perform on the Championship Course under racing pressure. However, this still leaves a lot to be decided with regard to selection of Boat Race crews.
The BNY Mellon Boat Races will take place April 11th 2015. The BNY Mellon Boat Race will start at 5:50pm, the Newton Women’s Boat Race at 4:50pm.
Results:
Elite 4-
Isis I – 18:41.7
Senior 4-
Cambridge Univ IV – 19:14.6 (winners)
WIM1 4-
Cambridge Univ Women II – 20:58.1 (winners)
Elite 4+
Isis II – 18:30.4 (winners)
Isis III – 18:50.5
Cambridge Univ I – 18:52.7
Cambridge Univ II – 19:04.3
Cambridge Univ III – 19:08.9
WElite 4+
Oxford University Women’s BC II – 20:30.4 (winners)
Oxford University Women’s BC I 20:39.6
Cambridge Univ Women I – 21:06.2
IM2 4+
Cambridge Univ V – 19:36.9
WIM1 4x-
Oxford University Women’s BC III – 19:59.8 (winners)
Crews Racing for Time Only (all coxed fours)
Isis IV – 19:45.6
Isis V – 19:21.6
Cambridge Univ Women IV – 21:09.7
Cambridge Univ Women V – 21:36.5
Cambridge Univ Women VI – 21:57.8