Two weeks ago our squad headed up to Newcastle to race one of the biggest student races of the season - BUCS Head.
With Sunday racing cancelled for the novices, all racing was moved to Saturday. This meant more chaos on the water and better vibes.
Our squad raced splendidly, preventing collisons while marshaling, keeping a mostly great line on the course, and fighting against the wind and the stream.
This resulted in some amazing results with 4 medals: 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze.
Now lets see how some crew highlights from the races:
Open Championship Lightweight 4-, Gold:
‘We are going to BUCS head with a mission and a purpose; to go fast and win some hardware (that’s the stuff you put around your neck)’ – Unknown, 2025
With ICBC being described as a ‘pedigree lightweight club’ by JRN and the strong performance of previous lwt 4s, the crew was excited to make their mark. And oh boy was this a ‘pedigree lightweight crew’; with its ranks being populated by the finest veteran lightweight talent, IC newcomers, and 2023 PE winner Chris Budden. Following a good block of training, including a sizeable amount of ‘corporate espionage’ (pressing ctrl F on the BUCS indoor spreadsheet), the boys were feeling good on the way up north.
The paddle up to the start was nothing short of sublime, leaving one member of the crew wondering if we had finally found some of this elusive rowing silk. After what seemed like an eternity spent marshalling, which did at least leave the opportunity for a school reunion (oooooh Hampton fwiends), we began the long paddle to the start. With the Surrey crew ahead of us getting some last minute light tech paddling in, we hit the course with only a short gap between us. We quickly capitalised on this and surged ahead of Surrey, a lead which we continued to widen for the rest of the race. Aided by a racing line that would have made Max Verstappen look amateurish, and some quality rowing as a crew, the mighty lighties soon caught up with the second IC champ 4- crew, who had helpfully decided to show us the racing line by sitting directly in it. Following some blade-on-blade action, and the exchange of a few polite words of encouragement, the gentlemanly agreement to finish next to each other was reached.
All in all, a cracking race. The crew was certainly happy to add their first bit of red and gold hardware to their trophy cabinets (right Chris?)
Mission completed, purpose fulfilled.
Womens Championship 4+, Silver:
We were excited to go up North and race (maybe for the first time ever?!). Fuelled by the promise of good weather and the chance to win some hardwear, we made sure to arrive in Newcastle in a timely manner. (Definitely not past midnight, and definitely not sneaking into the room of fellow sleeping crewmates and waking them up).
We were determined to make our second race of the day count! We paddled up to the start line with a mission and even the long, windy marshalling couldn't deter us. The wait was longer than expected and the sun didn't quite warm us up. Leaving only one option for our bow girl: the activation of Loren babushka mode! (which did in fact stay on for the whole race). Finally, after tapping up and down for what seemed like hours we started our race. Crossing the start line close to the 4+ infront of us and overtaking them 100 meters in. Our egos only increased as Savindu steered us to overtake not 1, but 3 coxless fours. Every BOWBALL call catapulting us closer to the finish. Some motivation from Savindu and Lia whispering sweet nothings into Laura's ear (which she afterwards forgot she did) we blazed down the course, trying to hunt down Durhams 4+. We finished our race, excited to see the results, but most importantly excited to eat and put on warm clothes.
Great day in the office, thanks to Tamara's stroking, Savindu's great steering, Laura's and Loren's WATTS and some decent rowing from Lia. Well done girlies:)) xx
Open Championship 4-, bronze:
The boys arrived in Newcastle off the back of some sh*t conditions and 3 whole sessions together on the tideway. Full of confidence having been spanked by the 4+ all week, Pete gathered us for a briefing, reminding us of our top secret strategy of finding a rhythm and pulling hard. The warm up got off to a shaky start but impressively the boys managed to piece together some competent rowing by the top of the course. After waiting for 2 hours at the top (and 2 litres of p*ss later) the boys got underway with 1 goal: don’t get caught by the 2nd 4-. However, our biggest test would only be 1 min in, as the 2nd 4- was unfairly impeded by the bridge. A true testament to how locked in the boys were that the giggles only lasted for 20 strokes. But soon the boys surged onto a s**ual rhythm lead by The T-Rex (Theo Budgen). As we came to the first set of corners Will got Groomed™️ by Nottingham as they forced him the long way round. The middle pair of Henry ‘Flopper’ Barham and Danny '*********' Shaw, convinced they had caught Durham, tried to keep their catch angle out of the 40s and heads in the boat as the disappointment of seeing yellow blades sunk in. Nevertheless, the boys disappeared in the 2nd half leaving a shattered Bristol in the dust as the boys found a previously unknown high. As we came round the final corner, the familiar sound of Pete's drone filled the air distracting all the boys (hence the poor rowing caught on footage). The chaps came across the line somehow securing a Champ bronze. God knows what Newcastle were up to.
Open Beginner Eights, bronze:
We’ve been working for BUCS Head since the winter break, especially after Quintin Head where we gained our first racing experience. Originally we were supposed to row in an 8 and 2 coxed 4s, however on Wednesday the BUCS committee decided to cancel the novice coxed 4 category due to the bad weather forecast. They however kept the 8’s which was moved to Saturday with the more senior rowers. The only difference was that we were going to row 5000m instead of 2500m - which mentally we weren’t as prepared to do; what rate should we go, how strong should we push at which part of the race to manage our energy reserves?!
When we arrived in Newcastle we were all full of adrenaline and excitement to see how well we will do on this major event. In the morning we cheered on the rest of the ICBC crews before then getting ready to go on the water.On our way down to the start we warmed up with some usual exercises, which by now have somewhat turned into a routine. This was also our first time seeing the course we would be rowing, so we tried to memories as many landmarks as possible so we’d know during the race how far on we were.
After a good warm up, we arrived to the marshaling area where the sun saved us from freezing to death by the “a lot stronger than expected” wind for the hour of waiting before the beginning of the race. Our racing plan was clear: set the rate to 30 s/m, have long and powerful strokes, don’t burn out in the first half and catch the 2 boats in front of us. The race began, the stroke rate was set and we were all in sync. Sunny (greatest novice cox ever?) gave us some great calls. So early on, we started catching up to Sheffield’s boat. Not a lot later we overtook them, giving us an ego boost, to overtake the following one as well. On the 2nd corner we overtook Durham taking the outside line (basically we were showing off that we can overtake them with the longer line). During the race we always managed to work back together and focus on moving together, despite some small asynchronous moments - which we’re all proud of. We pushed away from Durham’s boat and had to push even harder to fight against the strong head wind. We turned around the last corner and arrived at the final stretch. However our huge ego, after overtaking two boats was scrambling to find another boat to overtake. This led to good rowing, but not our fastest or most powerful. Thus we crossed the finish line feeling relieved that it was a lot closer than expected (some Marshall had to tell us three times that we already crossed the finish line), but also somewhat disappointed that we could have given in some more effort towards the end. We took the boat out of the water while simultaneously discovering that we managed to secure a medal! It was a nice feeling to walk up and collect a bronze medal, which we all proudly wore until the end of the day. Even though we are happy receiving a medal this race, we are returning to London fueled with a hunger for more medals, especially shinier ones.
Womens Beginner 8+, 7th:
After shocking news dropped in the wednesday session which saw novice 4s heartbreakingly scrapped and the 8s course extended by seemingly insignificant but, as it would transpire, mighty 1.5k, we headed up to Newcastle a day early to race.
Fuelled by instant porridge and dry digestive biscuits, we set off in full sunlight onto the gorgeously calm Tyne river (a welcome break from the Tideway) under the instruction of our wonderful cox Alex. Vibes were high on the paddle to the start (assisted by the stream and full sunshine) and we became well-acquainted with the other novi crews after several near misses.
Before we knew it, someone in a launch told us that we had infact started racing, robbing us of precious time to eat some last minute jelly babies and start the all-important Strava segments.
The race… well… we survived it. We started out strong with a cool rate 27 pace and tried to focus on the pointers from our last-minute pep-talks. Although seemingly insignificant, after several extensive post-race debriefs we pinpointed a moment where all 8 hearts sank in unison as Alex confidently announced that we were 1.5k in, meaning we had 3.5k of pain to follow.
We got our heads down and dug deep, managing to successfully manoeuvre past the mud flats, avoid any major crabs, and even hold off the eventual winners (Edinburgh) until 100m from the finish.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing with a beer on the side of the Tyne, watching our novi men peers win their bronze medal. 10/10 thanks Newcastle.
Open Championship 4-, 7th:
Race report - Overflow Champ 4-
Saturday 22nd February was a momentous occasion for the expert crew of the venerable Alice Gast: it was our fourth ever session together, and we were eager to demonstrate our ability to row a boat. Ideally fast, and preferably not into a bridge. After a warmup, involving some very collected bursts and what was actually quite a nice minute at pace, we arrived 45 minutes early at the start line just in time to cool down again. We crossed the start line in flying form, rating high and rowing long, loose and relaxed. Things were looking good as we surged forwards.
Our rhythm could be called bulletproof. This bulletproof rhythm lasted up until the first bridge, where we found that bulletproof rhythms are rarely bridge-proof. As our oars aggressively made contact with the buttress, we came to a dead stop. General consensus emerged that it was in fact the fault of the civil engineers who placed the buttress in the racing line, thereby absolving us of all blame. 34 seconds after impact, we began rowing again. Stroke man desperately attempted to recover some semblance of a rhythm, and instead ended up rating 35 the whole way down the track.
As the race continued we found ourselves alongside the lightweight 4-. Some good side by side racing ensued, involving a clash of blade and bow number, a great deal of shouting, and highly skilled avoidance of the racing line on our part (the latter was a recurring theme of our race).
Crossing the line was a triumphant moment, mainly because we hadn’t sunk and because it was finally over.
We came away with a strong 7th place in the Champ 4- category. Pretty impressive for a four uncharitably dubbed the ‘overflow 4’. Had we not sampled the buttress we might even have come 6th.
A strong platform to build on for the rest of the season, with some important key takeaways involving bridges taken on board.
Womens Intermediate 4+, 17th:
Some crews go into a race with dreams of glory. Others go in with a plan. We, however, entered with vibes—and that was about all we had. Lining up for our race, we were fuelled by sheer enthusiasm, mild confusion, and the knowledge that our cox box had completely given up on life. With no way to hear our cox, bow seat heroically took on the role of human megaphone, shouting calls like “f**k,” “grunt,” and “remember how long the drive was, f**king row.” Could anyone hear them? Debatable. Did we commit to the chaos anyway? Absolutely.
To add to our well-oiled preparation, we had no race briefing, no debrief, and were entirely forgotten about by our coaches. The true mark of a finely tuned racing machine. In fact, Pete was so convinced we weren’t racing that he started derigging our boat and prepping it for the trailer before we even boated. A bold strategy—just don’t start, and you can’t lose. But we did, in fact, start. And, for a fleeting moment, things were looking almost respectable—blades in, power on, no immediate capsizing. That was, of course, until UEA decided they’d rather row through us than around us. The result? A forced scenic detour straight into the bank. Some crews practice perfect lines. We, however, discovered that we should have practiced for a blade battle.
After peeling ourselves off the bank (with a few apologies to the local wildlife), we heroically rejoined the race, now executing the most creative course selection imaginable. While other crews sought out the fastest water, we boldly took the “Explore the River” approach, bravely rowing in the slowest, choppiest bits like true adventurers.
Distances? Who knows. Rating? A mystery. Pace? Irrelevant. Despite our, um, alternative approach to racing, we successfully crossed the finish line. Were we fast? No. Were we efficient? Also no. But did we have a laugh, confuse the marshals, and make some truly unique race memories? Absolutely.
Summary:
• Race plan: Vibes.
• Execution: A bold interpretation of “staying in the stream.”
• Cox box status: Deceased.
• UEA: Strong believers in “if you can’t overtake them, push them into a bush.”
• Coach involvement: Nonexistent.
• Pete: Attempted boat removal before we even raced.
• Overall result: A lovely little row (ft. unexpected landscaping experience).
10/10 would do again (with a cox box and perhaps a map).
Other racing results include:
4th in Open Championship 4+
9th in Open Intermediate 4+
5th in Open Championship 8+
4th in Womens Championship 8+
5th in Womens Championship 4-
On Sunday our mens 3rd eight raced Hammersmith Head, tackling the well known course on the Tideway and placing 10th in their catergory.
Well done to everyone who raced! :)
Comments