With lightweight rowing removed from the Olympic program from Paris onwards in favour of beach sprints, and British Rowing no longer trialing athletes as lightweights, it’s pleasing to see that BUCS Head will still cater for those rowers with the twin strengths that eludes most of us: being very light and being very fast. The category has seen an increase in entries in 2024 (seven compared to four) and with big hitters Strathclyde absent, the race for the top looks to be tighter than ever before. Entries from less-established names within the university rowing circuit means we could see a new winner crowned this weekend.
Reading University Boat Club
When it comes to performance sculling, not many do it better than Reading. Having made the switch from a normal dual discipline program to one that focuses solely on sculling, the results speak for themselves. Multiple GB vests every year in both the men’s and women’s squads to complement ten BUCS gold medals across the past two years and a Henley Prince of Wales Challenge Cup final in 2022 (the first for an all RUBC crew since 1986) gives evidence as if were needed that Reading is still the powerhouse that gave rise to Sam Townsend, Alex Gregory and Cath Bishop to name a few. Without getting ahead of ourselves too much, any Reading crew that is placed in a category which they have won multiple times before would expect a top-two finish at the very least, especially given the amount of depth Reading seem to have every year within their squads. Conditions of course will play their part, but it seems that barring a calamity of Cal Berkley 2016 Visitors crew proportions, Reading should be fine.
Queen’s University Belfast Boat Club
Another club that exists in the same bracket as Reading when it comes to success within British university sculling, Queen’s have become well known as a pathway for athletes into both the British and Irish sweep and sculling squads. Olympians Rebeca Edwards and Phillip Doyle flew the flag in Tokyo, whilst an exciting new crop of Irish sculling and sweep talent is oncoming in the form of Nathan Tiomney, Ross Corrigan and Konan Pazzaia. Queen’s also currently boast the fastest lightweight men’s 2k at this years BUCS Indoor Championships in the form of Ciaran Purdy, and although he will be missing from the Intermediate Category, you can bet that Queen’s will have similar quality athletes to fill the gap. It goes without saying that Queen’s should do well in this event, and given that they did not field an entry last year and with Strathclyde out of the picture, it really is straight down the middle between these two.
Surrey University Boat Club
A club that has earned the title of “Disrupters in Chief” over the last few years under the tutelage of Sam Tuck, Surrey have gone from being a university with a boat club attached to operating as a university with a high performance training and racing centre. With a beginner program that rivals Edinburgh in its ability to churn out wave upon wave of fast rowers (eight of the nine members of the 2023 Temple Eight at HRR learned to row at Surrey, with four of those only having picked up the sport eight months prior) and a senior squad that seems to improve year on year, Surrey could be dark horse for this event. Although gold eluded the men’s senior squad at the same event last year, a solid placing in the men’s intermediate 4x (which saw the crew crack the top ten) which was followed three months later by a BUCS silver medal shows that Surrey are proficient in quads. But so for that matter is everyone else. A win for Surrey would not only be unexpected but would propel them further into the conversation as one of the premier sculling universities in this country.
Predictions
Although I believe that Surrey have enough gas in the tank to make the top three fairly comfortably, I think on this occasion a win is out of reach. Reading should take home the gold, Queen’s the silver, and Surrey the bronze.
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