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Photos: Tom Wooldridge
On the sunny, crisp morning of Saturday the 28th January, the University of York Boat Club took to the water for the White Rose Head.
It was an event organised by the club and UYBC was out in full united force, with over fifty volunteers helping out with the race. The race itself was split into two divisions. Division One, contained the Men’s VIII, Fresher Women’s VIII and Women’s IV. Due to some last minute cancellations, Division Two contained the Men’s IV and Fresher Men’s VIII. Leeds, York St John, Sheffield Hallam and Teeside University provided strong competitive crews, but York dominated the event, winning every category they entered.
The course was 3km running upstream from our boat house, Fulford, following the bends of the River Ouse to finish at the Lowther. The race was a time trial, as opposed to a head-to-head regatta, but even without the competitive intensity triggered by the latter, York’s crews were driven and determined, and they rose to the challenge.
The first division was composed of the Men’s VIII and Women’s IV. It kicked off smoothly with the men taking to the water first. UYBC’s first boat was a scratched crew, drawing upon four novice men; inexperienced and unexposed to the rowing world. This was combined with four men from the top eight. Men’s captain Sam Agass was confident that the new men would cope under race pressure, despite a lack of practice.
From a distance the boat looked splashy and unsteady, however as the boat travelled under Millennium Bridge down to Skeldergate Bridge the rhythm picked up and the boys settled into a race pace, finishing strongly with a time of 12.33. Patrick Sommerville-Large described his excitement of winning his first race, hoping it will be “a taste of the successful season to come”. Collectively the boys thanked their cox Eden Sparke, who drove them to success. The responded well to her clear, sharp controlled voice, which stood out amongst all the coxes of the day, later, coxing the men’s IV to victory in Division Two.
The next set of boats to emerge from the bend was the Women IV’s. UYBC had split their top eight into two, a last minute change of plan which the squad adapted to well. With regards to technique both boats looked stronger than their competitors York St John and Sheffield Hallam who they overtook during the course of the race. The real competition was fundamentally between the two crews themselves.
The second crew, composed of Eloisa Cackett, Tash Linyard-Tough, Alice Duston and Evelien Rutgers secured a victory of 16.18, with the other four narrowly behind at 16.31. This friendly rivalry celebrated the solidarity of the women’s squad with Senior Women’s Captain, Pippa Maloney praising both crews for their effort and described the race as a building block for the squad “to push off from.”
After a short break, the volunteers, all visible in their matching yellow high-vis jackets resumed their positions for Division Two. Leeds secured a victory with the Fresher Womens VIII but the Men’s IV was easily won by York (Clough) who finished a solid 0.45 seconds faster than their competitors. Winning three out of the four races, the day can be deemed successful for UYBC. Race co-ordinators, Alice Duston and Evelien Rutgers agreed, summarising the day as a “brilliant opportunity for all Yorkshire Universities to compete on the Ouse, enabled by the encouraging support from the local community and the club itself”.