With only eight girls in the squad, the Lancaster women had a tough day ahead of them with some of them having to race in three out of the four races. Eager to start the day as LUBC meant to go on, the Senior Women’s IV+ lined up on the start line for the first race of the day. An excellent start followed by a strong and confident row resulted in a win by three lengths, a fantastic result for the four girls, all of which have only been rowing for six months.

Weather-hardy supporters stood by as the senior men’s IV set out to battle York. Bow-man Richard ‘Craig’ Riley, Kristoffer Sundet, Adam Burgess and Paul Hartley at stroke had a frustrating start, leaving York ahead. Their brilliant course and determination kept them in contention with York, who, despite looking untidy, kept a steady lead. Just after the halfway stage someone must have pressed the red panic button on board (or perhaps the ejector seat button, as Kristopher kept on being thrown of his seat) allowing York to pull ahead and finish about a length in front, despite an admirable effort from Lancaster. Recent discussions have concluded that seat belts should be installed for over-energetic rowers in the future.

In their first race together being on the Lune with the support of a large audience made everything very exciting for the whole crew. With some difficulties at the start the crew ended up over a boat length behind York. But the crew did not give up, and fought back. In the last 100 meters they made a massive push and passed York and won. The Novices won their first race together and it was a thrilling experience for the crew and all the audience.

Not only was the VIIIs race the second race of the day for all of the girls, the ante was also upped by the previous victories. Holding a 100% success record coming into the race, the Lancaster women were quick to reject complacency and started strongly. They were matched by the York women for the first 200m until LUBC started to pull away and a win by two lengths was a fantastic end to the events of the day eligible for points. The Lancaster women had not only held their 100% success rate but had contributed ten points to the Lancaster University attempt to win Roses 2008.

With York’s first VIII weighing on average nearly 20 kilos lighter than Lancaster’s crew, the expectation was that York would make a quick start. However, Lancaster’s crew thought differently. Their strong start resulted in a lead early on, which they managed to sustain despite valiant efforts from York to try and catch up. Lancaster’s strength was incontestable as they built their rating and power towards the finish, resulting in a comfortable and impressive win against York.

Following the victory of the novice and senior crews, the men’s novice VIII were determined to keep the edge on York. A quick start and both crews set off neck and neck towards John O' Gaunt. it soon became clear that York had caught a crab (which they never recovered). Seeing this, the crew pushed hard to maintain a strong 200m gap and kept the pressure on for a power 10 across the finish line.

Now that the competition had been finalised, with Lancaster beating York by 16.0 – 4.0, the exhibition races finished the Roses Boat Races off in style. The Lancaster women’s IV dominated throughout, finishing six lengths ahead of their competition, an unbelievable result in a 750m race. 

As the last race of the day, the crew were eager to get going. With a perfect start the crew pushed away from York right at the start. The crew kept the power on and York never had a chance to catch up. The fresher’s won their race with a big distance back to York’s crew. 

The men’s senior VIII, consisting of a crew who had never all rowed
together before, had high hopes for their second race of the season regardless. A rate of 32 was maintained throughout the race, and by the halfway point Lancaster had caught their first crew. The second followed shortly. Closing in on the next two crews over the long straight section of the course, Lancaster was able to pass them both on the inside of the final bend. Coming head on into the wind, the final 200m required a strong push to the finish. 2nd in the Senior 4 division was an excellent result for the men.

The last race of the season for the Lancaster girls meant that spirits were high on the way down to the River Dee. A strong field, containing four boats that had beat us at WeHORR, was an exciting prospect and the girls agreed that they had an excellent chance of a good result. Just 600m into the race we had taken our first crew, and quickly pulled away from the rest of the field. Throughout the race we maintained excellent form, passing our next crew, Manchester University, on the inside of the last bend. Our finishing result of 2nd out of 6 crews was an impressive result having beaten both Liverpool and Manchester Universities who had been faster than us just a week before.

Despite the drama of being in a different boat, near perfect conditions and an exciting 130th placing for the Lancaster women meant that WeHORR was an exciting prospect. A fantastic rate was set by stern pair and was maintained through the starting line and by Barnes Bridge, we had caught our first crew. Within 100m, we had not only passed our first crew but were catching two others and an increase on the power through the water meant that we had quickly closed the gap. Unfortunately, as we were side-by-side, three boats across the river, Bristol University lost their steering and started to drift into us. There was little that could be done to avert the situation as Exeter were immediately to our left and we collided with Bristol, luckily managing to escape without much damage. For the remainder of the course, the Lancaster women stayed focused, managing to avoid being passed by any boats despite a strong finish from Sons of the Thames who had been close behind for the whole race. An amazing finishing position of 128th out of 268 crews, and 16th out of 55 crews in the Senior 4 division was an outstanding achievement for the girls.  

Racing for the first time this season the Senior IV, consisting of Bow-man Tom Bibby, Kristoffer Sundet, Adam Burgess and Paul Hartley at stroke. They had a strong start, quickly gaining on Reading B and Sheffield Hallam. Lancaster then experienced problems as they became sandwiched between the two crews. They managed to overcome this problem and pushed past the crews, finding their rhythm again quickly. At this point Lancaster were able to hold off Reading B and push the boat on around the final corners and over the line, finishing 18th out of 24 with a time of 20:10.

Emotions were running high at the start of the 3 kilometre race, all eight men having never raced before. Crossing the start line they held a nice rate of 32, which they managed to maintain for most of the race. Trying to get the rate down seemed impossible, so the crew kept it going and they had a nice 2000 meters where they steadily gained on  Bangor who started in front of them. For the last 500 meters they did several power 10’s as they heard the inspirational cheer from the Lancaster crowd they overtook Bangor and crossed the finish line. They came 12th out of 28 crews, beating both Lincoln, Bangor among many others, with the time 11.58. The crew were understandably delighted with this result for their first race.

The novice men’s IV headed out onto the Trent River for their first race of the season. They got a strong start at the beginning, winding it up over the start line hopes looked high. Things get a little hectic at 1500m when they had to alter course to avoid an oncoming cruise ship, but soon took an exciting turn when a women’s VIII started to gain on them. Refusing to accept defeat the boys put the pressure on up to the last 500m when they got a good few lengths ahead, motivated by the cheers of the on looking crowd. 100 meters to go and tensions were running high, after a few difficulties the crew found their rhythm again just in time for an excellent power 10 across the finish line. An excellent start to their racing career.

The first race of the season for the crew of the Amelia Mills was also the first ever race for over half of the girls and spirits were high on the start line. A strong start by the Lancaster women meant that by just one kilometre in, we had caught our first crew. This was motivation enough for the girls and they held their own next to the Manchester Women’s VIII for the next 3km, only in the final stages did our opposition’s experience allow them to pull away. A finishing position of 12th out of 15 was a fair reflection of the Lancaster women’s ability and provides a good starting foundation for the rest of the season.

All LUBC members who travelled to Birmingham Indoor Area took part in an individual 2km Erg, with many promising results. All individual results can be found here.

BUSA Women

Helen Leigh
Kathryn Horsley
Sarah Wood
Sissel Gynnild
Sarah Forshaw
Katy Hignell
Mary Merritt-Smith
Karin Froman

2nd from 15 with a time of 3:50.4.
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BUSA Men

Adam Burgess
Paul Hartley
Simon Yielding
Richard Riley
Matt Jones
Chris Slater
Jaymes Hubbard
Thomas Bibby

7th from 20 with a time of 3:18.4.
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