The Imperial novice squad brought home 2 medals last Sunday to round off a great weekend at BUCS 4s and 8s Head and place Imperial 4th in the Victor Ludorum. Conditions had improved slightly from the Saturday morning, but the squad was still thankful that the Tideway offered plenty of preparation for the novices' first race down the Tyne.
Division 1
M Beginner 8+ Bronze
Bow Joe Essigman
2 Jed Nelson
3 Naman Sharma
4 Martin Slomczykowski
5 Julian Waas
6 Harry Bliss
7 Nathan Burn
8 Jack Dorrian
Cox Zahir Ala
The novice men's 8+ was the first event in the morning on the second day of BUCS head 2023. Imperial were the 5th boat to start. Coxed by the expert Zahir Ala, they started strong with intent which can be seen in the photos taken by AllMarkOne. Through the middle 1.5k the men's 8 overtook Bath and Birmingham. For the last 500m, the men's 8 put the foot down and came in 3rd overall behind Queen's University Belfast and Surrey. The goal going forward is to close the gap between the these two universities for the BUCS regatta in May.
W Beginner 4+ Fifth
Bow Issie Bentley
2 Katie Gough
3 Ella Lee
4 Alice Duhem
Cox Nathalie Griffiths
On Sunday 19th February, the Novice Women’s 4+ took to the River Tyne at their first ever BUCS event in Newcastle. The novice ‘A’ 4+ crew had a good race, maintaining a steady rate along the 3km course with plenty of encouragement from both cox, Nathalie Griffiths, and rowers. After a little bit of turbulence in the first kilometre, the crew worked hard together to regain speed and rhythm and finished in fifth place. Having rowed together a humble once before the event, this was a great start to the fours racing season and a great experience to work off in the future.
Division 2
M Beginner 4+ Bronze
Bow Joe Essigman
2 Harry Bliss
3 Nathan Burn
4 Martin Slomczykowski
Cox Zahir Ala
Today was the day the Novice men’s eight split their boat into two and a strong rivalry emerged between the two resultant fours. Feeling strong after the convincing 3rd in the 8s, the crew were determined to obtain another medal.
We had a strong start, with the first few hundred metres at high rate, before settling into a sustainable r30. During practice, we had had issues of boat balance, but due to consistent tapping down, this was not an issue in the race. The middle part was mainly a mental battle, but Zahir’s relentless encouragement was invaluable in keeping on the power. The crew certainly began to feel the strain with 700m to go, but a combination of Martin’s consistent rhythm, and a fair bit of both Joe and Harry’s grunting (in spite of Zahir’s calls to shut up) gave the whole crew the motivation to drive for the finish.
The crew put in a strong performance overall, and it was a clear reflection of the practice and coaching in the weeks leading up to BUCS, allowing us to christen our 4s rowing journey with a Bronze medal.
M Beginner 4+ Eleventh
Bow Naman Sharma
2 Jed Nelson
3 Julian Waas
4 Jack Dorrian
Cox Nathalie Griffiths
The novice men B team set out again in their 4+ boat after finishing third in the 8’s Division earlier that morning. The weather conditions had become more intense by this time which influenced confidence whilst rowing up to the start. Luckily the experienced cox present in the novice men B team boat made good work of getting the men’s heads back in the game. During marshalling the crew experienced some technical difficulties with the boat. However, through quick thinking the crew was able to resolve this making them ready for the start sign. After the start was called the crew started out strong and at good pace. This was carried on through the middle straight part of the race. Closing in on Bath’s 4+ the cox pushed the crew on to overtake which was done successfully. This put the crew in range of another boat resulting in a neck on neck struggle to the finish being won by the Imperial novice men B team. The crew managed to finish 11th making them the fastest B team by considerable margin.
W Beginner 8+ Seventh
Bow Petya Tomova
2 Mirain Lloyd
3 Ana Lopez
4 Katie Gough
5 Issie Bentley
6 Alice Duhem
7 Ella Lee
8 Simona Barokova
Cox Catarina Duarte Nunes
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