After the second set of GB trials last week in Boston, all focus now shifts towards the River Tyne, where the annual BUCS Head is being hosted. Limited to student-athletes only, the event gives universities the chance to race directly against one another. Only two crews have entered the women’s championship coxed fours event: Edinburgh University and Durham University. Situated not overly far from one another, these clubs have faced each other in both private and public fixtures many times over the past few months, and as such we can expect some heated competition between the two crews.
Edinburgh University Boat Club
Edinburgh have had an undeniably strong season so far. Looking back to November, they won both the women’s coxless and coxed fours events at Inverness Fours and Small Boats Head, just a week before going on to beat Durham at a private fixture over 1km. They then put in an exceptional performance at Rutherford Head, winning band one of both the women’s eights and coxless fours categories, and coming away with second in the coxed four. They have also seen a few notable results at both sets of GB Trials, with one example being Hannah Supple, who was among the top five U21 athletes in the single at both the November and February trials.
After coming second in this event at BUCS Head last year, Edinburgh will be looking to build on this outcome, with their sights set on the gold medal.
Durham University Boat Club
Another university that has seen some great results in the past few months, Durham started strong in early October at Tyne United Small Boats Head, where they won band one of the women’s coxless fours event. While they narrowly missed out on a win to Edinburgh at the previously mentioned private fixture, their success in the band one women’s coxed fours event at Rutherford Head was unassailable, as they beat their Scottish rivals by 16 seconds. They then went on to put in a standout performance at Tyne New Years Head, where they took gold in the women’s eights, coxed fours, pairs, and singles categories. DUBC also had some good results from GB trials, with their pairs placing third, fourth and sixth out of the U23 crews just last weekend.
With such a strong set of achievements to boost their confidence, Durham will constitute some tough competition on the water this weekend.
Prediction
As these two clubs have competed against each other multiple times since the start of the season, and since there has not been a consistent victor in their races, it is exceedingly difficult to make any prediction as to who will come out on top in the women’s coxed fours event. One thing is for sure, though: both crews will put up a formidable fight, which will make for a very exciting race.
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