Fours Head- History Breaking Results!

After showing a lot of promise, albeit with mixed results, at our early season head races, everything came together for an incredible showing from both squads at Fours Head.

Womens Academic Quad: 2nd

Starting with the women’s squad, the 4x- of Charlie Widdowson, Finli O’Donoghue, Bekah Hagan and Lucy Fraser beat the club’s previous best finish of 261st in 2016 by placing 224th overall, narrowly missing out on victory in the Women’s Academic 4x- category to Reading University by 7.3s. The girls finished so close to the top quartile by placing 25th/80 out of all women’s coxless quads.

Charlie, in the stroke seat, said of the race: “After a year out of the sport, it was incredible to come back and get a great result at Fours Head so early in the season. We’d only been together as a crew for four weeks so it shows the potential is there to build on as the year progresses.”

Mens Academic Coxed Four: 1st

The men’s boat of Will Jackson, Jack Lockett, Andy Tudor, Luke Mellors were steered to victory by cox Georgia Silver in the Open Academic 4+ category, beating off tough competition from the likes of Imperial College London and Oxford University Lightweights. The crew achieved the club’s first-ever win at the event and by finishing 136th overall, the second-highest ever placing behind a 134th place finish in 1991. Furthermore, the boys finished a brilliant 31st/69 in the open coxed 4 boat class, a phenomenal achievement given the class was stacked with multiple entries from clubs such as Cambridge University, Oxford Brookes and London RC.

“We had a race plan before the start and we managed to follow it very well, fighting off some initial pressure from Imperial and then getting ahead of Southampton. We couldn’t have executed it much better if we tried and we ended up showing everyone else what we are made of. It has felt like we have started to build something at LUBC this year. So I’m very glad to see us getting some impressive results for our men’s and women’s squad to set a foundation for the year and to show other clubs that we mean business.” - Will Jackson, Men’s Captain

Round up

Overall, LUBC had a brilliant day at Fours Head. Of the club’s success, Head Coach Patrick Home said: “We knew we could be competitive based on what we’d done in training but it was really great to see both crews deliver on the day. A great result for the club, and something we will all remember for a long time!”

It’s a weekend off the racing for our senior squads now as we host our annual Novice Race Day on home waters but they’ll be back in action come White Rose Head where the club will look to cement themselves as one of the most promising university programs in the North of England.

The club would like to thank Vesta Rowing Club and Fuller’s for making the event happen and Putney Town Rowing Club for hosting us on the day.

-Scott Marshall.