The first of the major BUCS events of the year, the Fours and Eights Head takes place over 5km on the River Tyne up in Newcastle, the venue that has become the unofficial home of this event in recent years. With most of the big names on the UK student scene at the event, aside from the notable absences of Brookes and UL, this event will be the truest test yet as to the winter training that has been done. The Men’s Championship Four takes place in the morning division, and most of these crews will most likely be half of the first eights, so, the standard will naturally be very high, with close racing at the front of the field.
Newcastle University BC
Racing on home water, Newcastle will be looking to make an early mark on the BUCS scene for this season. Newcastle tend to put the majority of their efforts into the eight, so it will be interesting to see how they manage the smaller boat, that needs a little more feel. In terms of what form can be gleaned from the racing Newcastle have done this season, at Rutherford, their top eight on the day finished second to Edinburgh and in front of the likes of Durham and Glasgow. This crew was a combination of first and second eight athletes owing to trials, where Newcastle had two pairs and two singles racing. With no crew lists it is impossible to know where Newcastle have put their athletes across the coxed and coxless fours and the quad, but on home water, and the strength of the Newcastle system, they should be featuring at the front of this event.
Edinburgh University BC
Another high-performance centre, Edinburgh have a very strong system and produce strong crews year on year. This season is shaping up to be no exception to that trend with the limited racing they have done producing strong results. At the recent set of GB trials, they had big contingent of athletes racing. They have bettered Newcastle both in a fixture before Christmas and then more recently at Rutherford Head in the eight. Having said that, at Rutherford in the afternoon they had a coxless four racing that finished behind both Tideway Scullers and Newcastle’s lightweights. This four was also beaten on time by an Edinburgh coxed four as well. Not knowing crew lineups makes it impossible to make a concrete prediction as to their speed, so it will be interesting to see how they go here.
Durham University BC
Another key name on the university circuit, Durham have been on an upward trend so far this winter and will want to continue that at this event. At Tyne New Year Head, they had a strong day, especially in the eights in comparison to Newcastle. This was reversed at Rutherford, where the top Durham eight finished sixth. Again, this was a crew that was impacted by trials, where Durham athletes produced some good results there. In the afternoon at Rutherford, they took a win in Men’s Championship Quad, but also finished behind Newcastle and Edinburgh in the four. With the same caveats as the above crews in terms of not knowing lineup, Durham will want to continue their positive start to the season.
Imperial College London BC
One of the big names from the Tideway, and Temple Challenge Cup runners up in 2021, Imperial will want to make their long journey up north worthwhile with some good results. Their Fours Head results yielded top ten finishes for all their crews in their respective events. They then went on to race at Quintin Head, where the first eight placed eighth in the Men’s Championship category, with the fifteenth fastest time of the day (albeit with a time penalty). They also had a fixture against Oxford Lightweights recently so have been gaining valuable race experience. IC would not travel if they didn’t believe they could bring something to the table, so it will be fascinating to see how they stack up
Nottingham University BC
A club that has kept its form very much under wraps this season thus far, Nottingham are one of the foremost programmes outside of the High Performance Centre bracket of clubs on the UK student scene. Having only raced this year at Wallingford Head before Christmas, producing some encouraging results in the eights, where they were second, ninth and 17th in Band 3 Eights. These results show a decent squad depth, and without any other racing to go on, Nottingham are a big unknown in this event who will want to put their winter’s work to good use to set the tone for the upcoming months here.
Prediction
Without crew lists, it is absolutely impossible to be able to provide a truly well-informed prediction, so this top three is based off other factors, mainly club pedigree and the results from the season up to this point. My top three for this event would be Newcastle, with their familiarity of the course also helping them out, followed by Edinburgh and Durham.
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