Quintin Head was another astounding day for RUMSBC, with both men's crews performing admirably despite less than favourable weather conditions and substitutions in both boats. M1 came 14th of 27 in their category with a time of 11:22.97, beating off several of their UH rivals with ease and chasing hot on the heels of Bart's. Not ones to let M1 claim all the glory, M2 finished this grueling race in  a time of 12:06.06, placing them 8th of 20 in their category. Boding very well for UH Head, this result put M2 well ahead of many of their UH rivals and mere seconds away from George's 1st crew.

With such excellent results at this stage, we can only hope that we reach new heights in the weeks to come and achieve the success we've worked so hard for throughout the year. Well done men!

Men's Second VIII
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"Quintin Head was the first head race of the year for the men’s side of the club, so as expected there was a mixture of both excitement and nerves during our long marshaling period. However, seeing the many high quality crews race past us, including our very own M1, naturally increased our excitement and made us hungry for the race. Although term one is sprint season, the focus of training is still very much with UH Head in mind, so the crew was itching to see how the culmination of 3 months of training would serve us in our first official head piece.

Clearly it had served us well, as we got off to an exceptional start, steaming past two crews with ease in the first third of the race. Unfortunately our success at the start ended up being detrimental to us for the middle third, as we had no crews to push off of during a very long and boring stretch of water, so sadly the power and rhythm dropped off a bit during this period. Fortunately, we were greeted by a rather enthusiastic King’s crew during the latter third of the race, who came storming up behind us. Embarrassing a good King’s crew is all the motivation we needed to get our heads back in the race and start winding the power and the rate back up, and managed to hold them off in what become a grueling battle to the finish line.

Overall, we were reasonably happy with our performance. Our strong start was certainly very promising, and the focus for training now is to keep that performance going for the duration of the race, and continue to build on that strong finish. This race gave us a good platform to build on for the months leading up to UH Head, as well as giving us the confidence that UH Head is ours to lose." - Jack Merritt, Seat 4

Men's First VIII
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"Having trained hard over Christmas and with the recent success of Winter Sprints, RUMSBC were ready to show their metal at Quintin Head. Despite the forecast of wind and rain, larks and japes were flying between M1, morale high whilst Freddie feasted on a large breakfast of chips. However, we all knew these would leave him not feeling so chipper later on…

Sure enough, the intense warm up of 10 minutes UT8 followed by stretching and a side dish of banter left Freddie feeling peaky and well before we were ready to boat it was evident that his knees were weak, palms sweaty and there was vomit on his splash jacket already. With Freddie functioning at 30% and Will McCaughran claiming he “might row well today” – little help that would be with his training plan consisting of skiing, sailing and “driving my daddies sports car” –, we set to marshaling.

We wound nicely into the start line and, with a deft hand and rousing motivational war cry, Julia saw us through our first overtake. The rowing was choppy, but no doubt all eight (minus Will who’d blown by this point) were farming serious watts and once through Barnes Bridge with a whipping tail wind the boat sat steady (despite bow’s best efforts). Midrace pace was spicy; rhythm was chunky and quads were burning. Once Hammersmith Bridge was in view, we slammed the pedal to the metal, executed our tier system and steamed (or rather splashed) across the line.

We knew we had made Rich proud and estimated we would be around 30 seconds (rowing pittance) off the UL1V. Good job boys." - Sam Gunning, Seat 6

Following on from a terrific UH Winter Head, the RUMSBC Men's squad couldn't wait to get back onto the water - so much so that they have entered themselves into the Quintin Head, a grueling 4000m stretch between Chiswick and Hammersmith Bridges. Whilst injury (to both man and boat) has led to some unexpected substitutions, both men's crews are confident that they will continue the year in the same way they started it - watching the competition disappear into the horizon. For information on Quintin Head, check out the website here:

Men's Second VIII
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Cox: Holly Joyce
Stroke: Martin Furlepa
7: Ben Southgate
6: Jack Illingworth
5: Ben Wardner
4: Jack Merritt
3: Timo Rodi
2: Adam Jones
Bow: Matt Kinsella

Men's First VIII
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Cox: Julia Negreskul
Stroke: Freddie Dewey
7: Will Wilson
6: Sam Gunning
5: Alex Lane
4: Will McCaughran
3: Luke Martin
2: Louis Robertson
Bow: Jamie Glenister (C)

UH Winter Sprints proved to be a resounding success for RUMSBC, with MN, M2, W2 and W1 all securing medals, and all other crews coming close to enough to victory to keep there competitors wary of loss right the way up to the finish line. With UH Head just a few weeks away, this is marvelous display of rowing prowess bodes well for another day of RUMSBC domination. But until then, we have a number of other events to keep us going, including training tour and BUCS Head, not to Quintin Head, in which the Senior Men's squad will be showing what they can do in the first head race of the new year.

Men’s Novices

Men’s Novice VIII

"After rising bright and early, the Novice Men anxiously awaited our first race. It was RVC, whom we’d beaten before, but that only gave us all the more determination to win again. Despite setting off with possibly one of the worst sprint starts we'd ever performed, we swiftly took up a rhythm and stormed ahead of RVC by at least a length and a half.
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Feeling more confident, and after an encouraging word from our cox, we now felt prepared for the next race, and our nerves were settled. Unfortunately, it was so soon after our first race that we only had time to line up for the next race and shiver, at the severe risk of developing hypothermia, given that we had no jackets. ICSM finally showed up, late as they were, grinning at us in our horrific state; but despite their significant advantage, they were thoroughly smashed by us with a lead of almost two boat lengths.

After this, we had well deserved rest in the boat house, which largely consisted of eating and sleeping. Our third race was less successful with an unfortunate loss to a non-medical King’s team, whose status as novices was certainly questionable… despite this, we were still ecstatic at our win in the UH Novice Men category, and afterwards enjoyed a well deserved drink." - Finn Norris, Seat 2

Women’s Novices

Women's Novice VIII Boat A

"We approached the start line with optimism following the recent success at Novice Sprints and confident with the effort we had been putting into our training as a boat. Consequent to a strong start, we powered ahead of the opposition establishing a clear distance between us. It was then that the race which initially appeared to be fairly promising took a turn for the worse. Numerous technical difficulties ranging from an open gate, to a foot plate coming loose meant that we continued the large remainder of the race rowing as a six. Nevertheless, we proceeded with determination until the finish with the help of Kelly’s motivational chants meaning that we held onto our lead up to the last few seconds of the race, despite being two rowers down. Subsequent to our defeat, we fully enjoyed winning the two repechage races which we used as an opportunity to build on our race experience. Drawing from how good the boat felt after these and the narrow margin by which we lost our first race, we go forward taking from the positives that the day had to offer and channeling our experiences into each bit of training we do to spare us on in preparation for our future races - all of which we await with anticipation." - Ceyda Oral, Seat 4

Women's Novice VIII Boat B

"Through rain, sleet and snow, the RUMS Novice ladies battled it out on the Thames for the first race of the new year: The UH Winter Sprints. Dressed to impress in our brand new unisuits, our ladies sat tall and proud, ready to drive with our legs to cross the finish line. Sadly, it was not meant to be with our first race against GKT, but not that loss nor the torrential rain could dampen our spirits as we prepared for our second race against none other than our own Novice Women’s A boat. At the start line friends became foes, but not for long as we burst into action. After gaining headway from our opponents, an unlucky crab drew our boat to a stop allowing our opponents to take the lead. Still determined, we powered on to the finish line, closing the distance between the boats to a mere length. Despite the unfortunate results from the races, our team remained proud of how much we have improved together. As a team, we rowed back to the boat house with our heads held high, all while our cox serenaded us with songs by legends such as The Beatles and Queen – thanks Kelly. More driven and determined than ever before, we eagerly await races to come to show off what RUMSBC women can do." - Sophie McWilliam, Seat 3

"The novice girls have put in many winter miles on the water and hours on the erg, and we were very excited to show off our power and technique to the other crews. The WN A boat (Eve, Laura, Hannah, Annalise, Ceyda, Melissa, Serena, Fiona) unfortunately experiences a few technical difficulties and did amazingly considering - they only lost by half a boat length to the crew they met in the finals of Novice Sprints last term! The WN B boat (Federica, Alex, Yemi, Alisa, Gracie, Sophie, Riya, Jade) also faced challenging competition, which lead to a RUMS v. RUMS race. Instead of pitting the A boat against the B boat, we matched the crews so that no one could predict the outcome! (Eve, Laura, Yemi, Alisa, Gracie, Serena, Fiona) v (Federica, Alex, Hannah, Annalise, Ceyda, Melissa, Riya, Jade). Unfortunately one of the crews caught a boat-stopping crab, but there was still a RUMS victory! Eight girls (Federica, Alex, Hannah, Annalise, Ceyda, Melissa, Serena, Fiona) then braved the snow and rain one last time in order to win repechage final." - Nicola Skajaa, Women's Novice Captain 17/18

Senior Men

Men’s Second VIII

"The men of M2 had thought Allom cup would be a perfect opportunity for redemption following our out of character display at Novice sprints, which saw us fall at the first hurdle to LSE. One week on, soul searching done, and we were ready to go. However, on the morning of the regatta we were informed Allom had been cancelled, and so we re-set our focus on Winter sprints.

5 weeks of training followed, and with the crew slightly altered following the Christmas break, early January really saw us beginning to gel. Our new stroke man Martin, and our new German recruit Timo slotted in seamlessly. Side by side training with M1 was really getting the best out of us on the water, and a team bonding trip to Birmingham the weekend before the race put the icing on the cake. We were prepared to prove that our performance at Novice sprints was not a true reflection of us as rowers.

We were in for a long wait to race on the day as the men’s intermediate category was to go to a straight three way final between us, George’s and Bart’s. Down to support the rest of the RUMSBC crews, we waited in the pouring rain until our race was due to start at 3:55pm. Eager to get going, we boated and rowed up to Chiswick Bridge where we waited with our competition. The marshals quickly got us into position:  Bart’s on Middlesex, us in the middle, George’s on Surrey. We floated up river until Jerry had us in position opposite Quintin boathouse. And we were off.

A powerful, measured start had us take seats from Bart’s straight off the line. Our first 35 strokes, which we had practiced so many times in training came off perfectly. It saw us quickly chunk through seats on the Bart’s crew until we had clear water on them. Now to deal with George’s. We’d taken around half a length on them by this point, coming up to a third of the race gone. Holly called for a big power 10, yet we didn’t gain significantly on them. This is where all the side by side rowing we had done in training came into it’s own, we stayed calm and our rowing remained tidy. By the time we had passed half way we began to creep past a tiring George’s one seat at a time, until we had clear water on them too. 30 more “big boy strokes” and we were over the line listening to the RUMS contingent cheering for us. We’d won, made amends for Novice sprints, and laid down a marker for the biggest race of the year; UH Head." - Jack Illingworth, Seat 6

Men’s First VIII
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"On Sunday the 21st of January, RUMSBC senior men took to the tideway for the very first time as a senior 8 this season. With months of hard training on and off the water under our belts, we were keen to kick the year off with a strong performance against our UH counterparts. Our first race came against a Kings boat fresh off a victory against ICSM, and through the first half of the race there was little that could split the two crews. However, the crew dug deep and our proved enough to come out on top by half a length. This victory put us through to the final against a Barts boat we knew would try and win the race off the start. Both crews flew off the line, and over the first 100m the race seemed to be in the balance. Unfortunately the middle portion of the race belonged to Barts who slowly chipped away, seat by seat, and despite a slight resurgence by RUMS they ended up winners by a length. Despite this loss, we take confidence from a strong day of racing, and look forward to a successful Head season where we can build on this solid foundation." - Alex Lane, Seat 5

Senior Women

Women’s Second VIII
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"With winter sprints being W2's first and last sprints competition of the year we were all eager to put our hard work to the test. Although our first race against George's started with a near miss of crashing into our mens novice VIII's boat, we didn't let that phase us out. We came together and won by a considerable margin. The final against LSE was a lot tougher than we expected and after being soaked through by the typical January weather it was hard to keep positive. Despite this, we kept our eyes in the boat and gave the race everything. At points LSE would catch up slightly but we pushed harder and with Chris' motivational coxing and cheering from the boathouse as we came up to the finish we smashed the final race and were awarded medals" - Charlotte Withers, Stroke

Women’s First VIII
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"The UH Winter Regatta always proves to be a challenging race for RUMSBC due to its timing being the weekend after social tour. Combining that with a forecast of snow, wind and rain, the women’s spirits were not their highest. However, an impressive start against George’s in the heats left us a length up after the first 30 strokes, which the crew continued to build on throughout the race, leading to a comfortable win of 2 and a half lengths. We headed into the final against the infamous KCL, apprehensive but determined. Another powerful start, and this time the women settled into a strong and steady race rhythm. At half-way we were holding our own against them, and with Preena’s exemplary coxing we began to gain on them, seat-by-seat. With medals in sight, and a long-deserved victory over King’s just 30 strokes away, W1 emptied the tank for the last minute. Winning by 3/4 of a length, W1 were thrilled with their their first medals of the season. The women hope to keep up this strong performance as we move into training for Head season." - Claire Shadwell, Seat 7

The time is upon us for the third UH event of the season, the UH Winter Regatta. Following the disappointing cancellation of Allom Cup, RUMSBC is raring to once again prove their prowess upon the Thames for the first time this year. Make sure you wrap up warm (perhaps by buying one of our stylish RUMSBC bobble hats) so you needn't miss a moment of a fun-filled day of sprint races, and clear some space on your mantelpiece for you to proudly display the medals you'll be bringing in tomorrow. Let's show everyone who the best UH team is and make sure they know who to watch out for come UH Head!

For information on race times, results and more, please click here.

Men's Novices

​Men's Novice VIII
Cox: Hannah Hickingbotham
Stroke: Luca Richards
7: Alex Bloom
6: Zak Mansell
5: Will Shorrocks
4: Sam Wray
3: Dom Atraszkiewicz
2: Finn Norris
Bow: Swopnil Lamchane Gurung

​"A new year of rowing brings new opportunities to the Novice Men. After their strong showing at Winter Sprints and the disappointment with Allom Cup cancellation, they are raring to go and make the tideway their own. Being their last UH race before they meet their rivals again for UH Head in little over a month, this is their last chance to show everyone what they've got and claim their stake for the UH crown!" - Matt Kinsella, Men's Novice Captain 17/18

Women's Novices

​Women's Novice VIII Boat A
Cox: Kelly Wyatt
Stroke: Eve Kerins
7: Laura Dan
6: Hannah Roberts
5: Annalise Munro
4: Ceyda Oral
3: Melissa Nelson
2: Serena Lu
Bow: Fiona Chegwidden

​Women's Novice VIII Boat B
​Cox: Greg Gibson
Stroke: Federica Ezennia
7: Alex Robinson
6: Radhika Kumar
5: Alisa Rasch
4: Gracie Sutton
3: Sophie McWilliam
2: Riya Gosrani
Bow: Jade Kayran

​"After a disappointing cancellation of Allom cup, the girls are ready to show how much we’ve learnt over the last couple of months. Our sprint-starts are a fine art, and this is our last chance to show them off until Bumps! The competition may be tough but, with all the winter miles we’ve got behind us, we are going to give the races 100%. Good luck girls!" - Nicola Skajaa, Women's Novice Captain 17/18

Senior Men

Men's Second VIII
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Cox: Holly Joyce
Stroke: Martin Furlepa
7: Ben Southgate
6: Jack Illingworth
5: Ben Wardner
4: Jack Merritt
3: Timo Rodi
2: Adam Jones
Bow: Ollie Marwood

​"Following their disappointing performance at Novice sprints, M2 have returned to the new year with new vigour and grit ready to prove novice sprints was a one off. The boys have been battling M1 on the water and holding them off in training sessions, much to M1s annoyance. This confidence they take to the start line on Sunday ready to create as much distance between them and their opposition." - Jamie Glenister, Men's Captain 17/18

Men's First VIII
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Cox: Julia Negreskul
Stroke: Freddie Dewey
7: Will Wilson
6: Sam Gunning
5: Alex Lane
4: Connor Price
3: Will McCaughran
2: Louis Robertson
Bow: Jamie Glenister (C)

"After the cancellation of Allom Cup, the wait is finally over for M1 to prove themselves on the UH stage after months of hard graft ergs and water time. With head season just around the corner this is the one and only chance for M1 to pick up medals and begin the road to UH head perfectly. The boys are eager and confident that they can get their nose ahead and look forward to battling side by side whichever crew may come at them. Good luck to them!" - Jamie Glenister, Men's Captain 17/18

​Senior Women

​Women's Second VIII
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Cox: Chris 'Beans' Jackson
Stroke: Charlotte Withers
7: Anna Shadwell
6: Mattie Williams
5: Asha Dave
4: Fernanda Fenn Torrente
3: Olivia Duffy
2: Rosa Mobayen
Bow: Alice Gandee

​Women's First VIII

Cox: Preena Patel
Stroke: Livi Drewett
7: Claire Shadwell
6: Jenny Budden
5: Jen Whitehead
4: Eimear McKavanagh
3: Abi Powell
2: Libi Hawkes (C)
Bow: Tintin Larsson

​"After the disappointment of not being able to compete at Allom Cup, these ladies are pumped and ready to compete in their first sprints race of the year. A fun weekend away with friends was a mere 7 days ago, but nevertheless these ladies will be a force to be reckoned with on Sunday. With many rate 38 practice starts behind us, we will be sure to take the tideway by storm and hopefully bring home some medals to reflect all the hard work we’ve been putting in over the year." - Libi Hawkes, Women's Captain 17/18