The Club's Results
Head of the River Race, Lent Term 2005
A huge head race on the Tideway (tidal river Thames) over the University Boat Race course
Sat 19th March
The official results published by the organisers, HORR organisers, can be found here. At the bottom of this page there is a summary of the results of college crews and a link to Cambridge weather. Club members, please go here to add (or correct) results, crews or race reports.
BPBC 1st men's VIII, Senior2 VIIIs
223rd
Time: 20:30.18
Time: 20:30.18
Rarely can the Head have been run in such gentle conditions - weather wise it was near perfect, although the lack of rain in the week before the race meant there was not much stream for the back half of the field. With this in mind we deviated from the standard line a bit to cut the corners rather than stay out for a non-existant advantage.
After rigging in double quick time, a good pre-race technical paddle was followed by the opportunity to avoid spending ages waiting in the boat as we instead rested at Quintin BC and slotted in at the appropriate place.
We set off with an agressive start and overtook by the Ye White Hart and again at the Bandstand. There'd been a slight dip after Barnes Bridge as the adrenaline wore off but we had recovered and lifted well into Chiswick Eyot. I think in hindsight that after the Eyot is where we started to struggle a bit, although we pushed well into Hammersmith Bridge and equally well out of it bouyed by the support.
After Harrods we had some naff water and this combined with our tiredness meant we began to lose our rhythm. Around this point I personally started really struggling to hear Raf although I think it was more an issue of hearing but not being able to comprehend as everything hurt too much. We overtook another crew. Thankfully the Mile Post came very quickly and we did a great lift at the football ground and then again at Beverley Brook. This brought us almost alongside Bristol Ariel who had started 3 places in front and it was a simple sprint to the line in which we just pipped them. Ariel, unbeknownst to most in the BP crew, had Simon Knight (matric 1998) onboard.
After that our position is slightly disappointing.
Thanks to Furnival for helping us boat from their raft, Quintin for letting us re-boat from their beach, Cantabs for hiring us trailer space and First & Third for hiring us Black Prince I. And credit to Simon K for wearing BP socks in the Bristol crew!
After rigging in double quick time, a good pre-race technical paddle was followed by the opportunity to avoid spending ages waiting in the boat as we instead rested at Quintin BC and slotted in at the appropriate place.
We set off with an agressive start and overtook by the Ye White Hart and again at the Bandstand. There'd been a slight dip after Barnes Bridge as the adrenaline wore off but we had recovered and lifted well into Chiswick Eyot. I think in hindsight that after the Eyot is where we started to struggle a bit, although we pushed well into Hammersmith Bridge and equally well out of it bouyed by the support.
After Harrods we had some naff water and this combined with our tiredness meant we began to lose our rhythm. Around this point I personally started really struggling to hear Raf although I think it was more an issue of hearing but not being able to comprehend as everything hurt too much. We overtook another crew. Thankfully the Mile Post came very quickly and we did a great lift at the football ground and then again at Beverley Brook. This brought us almost alongside Bristol Ariel who had started 3 places in front and it was a simple sprint to the line in which we just pipped them. Ariel, unbeknownst to most in the BP crew, had Simon Knight (matric 1998) onboard.
After that our position is slightly disappointing.
Thanks to Furnival for helping us boat from their raft, Quintin for letting us re-boat from their beach, Cantabs for hiring us trailer space and First & Third for hiring us Black Prince I. And credit to Simon K for wearing BP socks in the Bristol crew!
Take a look at the pictures of us racing here
I know Simon may be reaching further than others, but looking at the loom angle relative to 3 and 7, and where the spoon is, doesn't it look like his blade is about 1ft shorter than everyone else's?
I know Simon may be reaching further than others, but looking at the loom angle relative to 3 and 7, and where the spoon is, doesn't it look like his blade is about 1ft shorter than everyone else's?
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1. Lack of cover probab...
2. Poised at the catch 3. Returning after the ... [more...] |
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2nd men's VIII, Novice VIIIs
286th overall, 15th in Novices
Time: 20:59.95
Time: 20:59.95
I don't know if we're meant to be counting ourselves as the 1st VIII... The announcer certainly did, as he told the amassed crowds that we'd finished second in the Lents. We were possibly a bit of a let-down.
The race itself was great fun - marshalling and racing with 400 boats is pretty exciting! It felt as hot as mid-August (although I see it was actually only 20 degress) and everyone had their shirts on their heads to try to prevent sunstroke. For the first 10 minutes we rowed as well as we have done all term; on the Cam we would have got a pretty good time for the head course. Unfortunately the HORR is a bit longer, and we got a bit tired.
So, in the end, 17s off our top-250 target, but we put in a lot of effort and it was a good way to round off our time together as a crew. And Wales and England both won so I'm happy.
By the way, Jacob won S4 with the Dev Squad. Well done!
The race itself was great fun - marshalling and racing with 400 boats is pretty exciting! It felt as hot as mid-August (although I see it was actually only 20 degress) and everyone had their shirts on their heads to try to prevent sunstroke. For the first 10 minutes we rowed as well as we have done all term; on the Cam we would have got a pretty good time for the head course. Unfortunately the HORR is a bit longer, and we got a bit tired.
So, in the end, 17s off our top-250 target, but we put in a lot of effort and it was a good way to round off our time together as a crew. And Wales and England both won so I'm happy.
By the way, Jacob won S4 with the Dev Squad. Well done!
I was so tired from this race that I overslept the next morning and missed my flight to Ireland! That's commitment.
Other highlights include:
* gorgeous weather, to the point that we shed our zephyrs to beat the heat
* a rugby tutorial from Tom and Bryn as we watched the Six Nations in a charming pub frequented by lots of old people
* the random-number generator employed by the above establishment, used to subtly adjust the minute-to-minute price of pints of coke (1.45, 1.55, 1.50) and lemonade (1.00, 1.40, 1.45)
* Bryn's smug silence as Wales emerged victorious among a very pro-Irish crowd in the pub
* our ill-fated decision to carry the valuables bag on board in a "water-tight" compartment, thus leading to mobile phone failures and wallet soakings on a scale previously unknown to man
* a stellar first half of the race
* Seb besting Jacob in the three-cracker challenge, with a time of 75s
* vaguely still being able to walk today
Fun race, fun times.
Addendum:
Does the following chain of events belong in a comedy or a horror film? (1) Valuables bag goes on board, thereby getting soaked, which means that my (2) phone is ruined, leaving me with no backup for my alarm clock the following morning, which (3) doesn't go off in time for me to make my flight to Ireland, having not been set properly, in turn causing me to (4) lock my bike by the wheel only in front of Trinity in my mad scramble to find a working phone and call the airline, leading to (5) the theft of my bike in broad daylight, only to be informed, after (6) physically going to Stansted Airport to speak to the airline, that I would (7) have to pay a penalty to get on a flight the next day, which I paid. Sigh.
So in addition to fun, let me now brand this weekend as expensive!
Other highlights include:
* gorgeous weather, to the point that we shed our zephyrs to beat the heat
* a rugby tutorial from Tom and Bryn as we watched the Six Nations in a charming pub frequented by lots of old people
* the random-number generator employed by the above establishment, used to subtly adjust the minute-to-minute price of pints of coke (1.45, 1.55, 1.50) and lemonade (1.00, 1.40, 1.45)
* Bryn's smug silence as Wales emerged victorious among a very pro-Irish crowd in the pub
* our ill-fated decision to carry the valuables bag on board in a "water-tight" compartment, thus leading to mobile phone failures and wallet soakings on a scale previously unknown to man
* a stellar first half of the race
* Seb besting Jacob in the three-cracker challenge, with a time of 75s
* vaguely still being able to walk today
Fun race, fun times.
Addendum:
Does the following chain of events belong in a comedy or a horror film? (1) Valuables bag goes on board, thereby getting soaked, which means that my (2) phone is ruined, leaving me with no backup for my alarm clock the following morning, which (3) doesn't go off in time for me to make my flight to Ireland, having not been set properly, in turn causing me to (4) lock my bike by the wheel only in front of Trinity in my mad scramble to find a working phone and call the airline, leading to (5) the theft of my bike in broad daylight, only to be informed, after (6) physically going to Stansted Airport to speak to the airline, that I would (7) have to pay a penalty to get on a flight the next day, which I paid. Sigh.
So in addition to fun, let me now brand this weekend as expensive!
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1. Racing Under Hammers...
2. 2nd VIII setting off... 3. Nearly in time [more...] |
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<h3><a name="selectedresults">Selected Results</a></h3><h4>Oxbridge college crews</h4><p><pre><b>Finish Start Time New entry Category</b> 1 1 17:37.60 Leander I 2 3 17:38.98 Imperial College I 3 11 17:45.07 N Fiamme Gialle (Italy) 4 2 17:50.57 Molesey I 5 5 17:55.70 Oxford Brookes University I 6 18 17:56.56 Tideway Scullers' School I 10 20 18:11.20 S.1 Durham University I 68 103 19:09.39 S.4 Goldie (Cambridge University) 158 275 20:02.24 N S.3 Oriel College, Oxford 171 330 20:07.85 N S.4 Jesus College, Cambridge 172 278 20:08.13 N S.3 Queens' College, Cambridge 179 342 20:10.87 N S.4 Worcester College, Oxford 180 234 20:11.08 S.4 Hertford College, Oxford I 187 235 20:14.62 S.4 Lady Margaret Boat Club 195 198 20:18.43 S.4 Churchill College, Cambridge 208 264 20:25.10 S.4 Emmanuel College, Cambridge 213 277 20:26.85 N S.3 Pembroke College, Cambridge 215 172 20:27.92 S.4 Robinson College, Cambridge 217 187 20:29.07 NOV Magdalene College, Cambridge <b>223 359 20:30.18 S.2 Black Prince</b> 243 246 20:38.94 S.4 Selwyn College, Cambridge 265 270 20:50.43 N S.3 Downing College, Cambridge 276 243 20:55.11 S.3 Boar's Head 278 299 20:56.09 S.4 Wolfson College, Oxford 284 328 20:59.62 N S.4 Darwin College, Cambridge <b>285 177 20:59.95 NOV First & Third Trinity, Cambridge</b> 294 372 21:03.08 S.4 Merton College, Oxford 302 331 21:06.84 N S.4 King's College, Cambridge 326 344 21:26.78 N S.4 Hertford College, Oxford II 403 397 32:10.61 N NOV Dulwich College (last placed crew)</pre></p><div align="right"><font size="-1"><a href="#top">^ top</a></font></div><hr>
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1. CUBC Dev Squad showi...
2. Head of the River 3. Head of the River [more...] |
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Links
Full Head of the River Race results archive
Compare these times with all Head of the River Race times in the archive
