The world of university rowing travels north to Newcastle for BUCS Head this weekend, and with it the jewel in the BUCS crown: the Championship Eights. With flooding and storms restricting racing for much of the country, this is one of few opportunities for the top University crews to take swings at each other this season. The entry is dominated by the northern performance centres, but with Imperial coming up from London, this will be the first meaningful opportunity to assess how the northerners stack-up against those heralding from the Thames Valley.
Durham University
The defending champions racing on home water, Durham University had a great 2023 season. They won BUCS Head comfortably, were third fastest of the university crews at the Head of the River, and won silver in the Championship Eights at BUCS Regatta. Despite Durham’s wheels falling off by the time Henley Royal Regatta rolled around, the men in palatinate will have been preparing for a comeback in 2024.
In this new season, they have one of the longest racing resumes as races on the Tyne were undisturbed by the storms that caused havoc elsewhere. At Rutherford Head, they did not pick up the results they would have been hoping to, finishing more than 21-seconds behind their rivals, Newcastle. They came out as victors in a smaller field at Tyne United New Year Head, but failed to gain any ground on Tyne Amateur compared to their previous meeting. Last weekend’s Tyne Head was a step in the right direction, however, this season seems unlikely to be quite as successful as the one it follows, but that impression could be quickly rectified with a strong performance on Saturday.
Newcastle University
Local rivals Newcastle University, by contrast had a season to forget last time found. Fifth fastest at BUCS Head, even the return of World Champion James Rudkin could only lift them to finish 17th at the Head of the River. By the summer, things had not improved as they would miss the final at BUCS Regatta and lose out in the first round in both the Temple and Price Albert Challenge Cups at Henley Royal.
This season racing has been few and far between for Newcastle, meaning this will be just their second race in crew boats this year. However, the result they have posted so far have been mightily impressive, setting the fastest time at Rutherford Head. Notably, much of that field will race again this weekend, setting them up for huge potential success.
They will be looking to continue this form on home water this weekend, and will look to also lead the charge on the Victor Ludorum.
University of Edinburgh
The third Northern Performance Centre, Edinburgh University, sat somewhere between their two English rivals last season. Third place here twelve months ago, before finishing fifth in the Championship Eight at BUCS Regatta. Like the others, a tough draw at Henley Royal meant they were able to enjoy the pageantry a lot earlier than they would have wanted. In short, 2023 was an underwhelming follow-up to a great 2022.
This season has been light on the ground for race results as – in true the Baby Blue Army form – Edinburgh have been hesitant to show their cards until they absolutely must. Their one outing was to Rutherford Head and was apparently disrupted by injury and illness, ultimately finishing third; a bit off the pace of Newcastle, but still comfortably ahead of Durham. It will remain to be seen if they can use the return of some athletes to challenge the blue star this weekend.
Imperial College London
Usually resident in a different scene, Imperial College London has almost no easy points of comparison to the northern centres they will be up against this weekend. When they clashed last head season, it was a mixed affair. A second-place finish at BUCS Head put them ahead of all but Durham, but then slipped behind Newcastle and Edinburgh a month later on the Tideway. By the summer, a fourth place in the Championship Eights at BUCS Regatta and a semi-final appearance in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta meant it was an ultimately successful year when it counted for Peter Hardcastle’s men.
With the disruption on the Thames, there hasn’t been the normal assortment of racing for the Black, Blue and Silver, leaving us with restricted data to draw conclusions from. In their only race of the winter – Quintin Head – they raced what may have been matched crews. Whatever their arrangement, 18th and 19th place was unlikely to have been part of the plan as they finished behind matched crews from St Edward’s School and Thames Rowing Club’s fourth eight. Since the turn of the year, they’ve been roundly defeated by Oxford’s ‘Isis’ crew in their fixture series; they will be hoping they can do better over a time trial course, once Hardcastle has chosen his top boat.
University of Nottingham
The final crew returning to this event from last year’s field is the University of Nottingham. Having decided to make the step-up last year to aim for Championship level events, the green and gold crews looked a little out of their depth, especially within the men’s sweep group. The eight at BUCS Head finished last in the Championship event as the tenth fastest crew overall, behind second crews from Durham, Imperial and Bristol. Their joy didn’t improve in the summer as they would be well off the pace at BUCS Regatta, with their only good mark on the season being qualifying for the Temple Challenge Cup, before being demolished on the first day.
They return this year to the Championship event, likely in search of Victor Ludorum and BUCS points as they look to challenge Loughborough for the overall BUCS points crown, a title they have been unable to re-claim since the shortened 19-20 season. For their one race of the season, they travelled north to have a preview of this course at Rutherford Head. The crew finished 11th overall, behind three Newcastle crews and two from Edinburgh. It does not seem like this race will be much different, leaving Nottingham fighting for the 32 VL points available for fifth place.
University of Exeter
Making the long trip up from Devon, the University of Exeter is bringing a large contingent to the Tyne this year. With no racing having been completed in the winter, this will be the launch of their ceiling, but entering the Championship Eights may be a tough prospect for this group given that last year they placed 23rd out of all University crews at the Head of the River. That being said, a fourth place finish in the Intermediate Eights at BUCS Regatta suggests they won’t be embarrassingly far behind.
A sign of hope comes in the form of their rising beginners who were the fastest of their category at the Head of the River, but whether their Championship entry comes from phenomenal confidence in a group of second-year rowers, or from pressure within the Sports Union to earn BUCS points, this will not be an easy run down the course for the Exeter crew.
Predictions
After their storming victory on this course in December, Newcastle seem unstoppable. I doubt that any of their opposition will be up to challenging the blue star. For second place I would expect it to be between Edinburgh and Imperial; if Edinburgh are fully operational compared to Rutherford, I could see them sneaking ahead for the silver.
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