Racing on the Tyne means one thing for a lot of clubs, BUCS Head. The first student event of 2025, it’s an opportunity for those early indications of potential to be put on display. With their athletes changing year on year, it’s the unpredictability of university rowing that makes it so enjoyable. Hopefully, despite the weather forecasts, blue skies will emerge over the North East and bring with it a high calibre of competition.
Newcastle University BC
Home water and pedigree, two things that should make Newcastle contenders for winning any race. Having performed at the top end of student rowing for more than a decade, winning BUCS medals is a formality for the Blue Star. With Oxford Brookes usually absent from BUCS Head, it should be a little easier than the summer iteration of the BUCS series. Entering two boats for this event, Newcastle would likely want to see both of those to be around the medals. Winning this event last year by nearly ten seconds, more of the same would set a positive tone for the club as they build towards the Head of the River in March.
Durham University BC
The other club that calls the Tyne home, Durham, will be looking to put out a strong result. It’ll be difficult for them, although maybe not as difficult as it will be for most, having the home water advantage will surely give them an edge over their opposition. Failing to break into the top ten last year, the challenge Durham faces is much like in many clubs: depth. Entering so many boats relies upon speed throughout the whole squad when there are likely chances they will be facing many other universities’ top crews. However, training with the calibre of athletes of their top crews as seen at the recent GB February Trials, there will be hopes this taste for success has filtered through the club. This has already been hinted to this year being victorious at Rutherford Head in December, and this will yet be another good opportunity to replicate that strong result here.
Notable Mentions
Medal winning crews at last year’s event, Glasgow and Warwick will be determined to replicate that strong result with another one. For clubs like theirs, building year on year has to be considered the objective. Whilst they might not have the glamour and prestige of a Newcastle or Durham, they were very close to the former and beat the latter by nearly 40 seconds in this event. Going one further and winning will be a big ask for these clubs but it’s possible and it’s another twist that student rowing would celebrate. Anybody can win on their day, especially here.
Similarly and likely only finishing only slightly behind the above crews, there’s no reason why Nottingham and Edinburgh shouldn’t be in the conversation for a medal. Continuing to finish around the peripheries, it could be time for them to place themselves strongly into the mix. If they are to compete well in the summer against some of the big hitters that will be absent from this event, they ought to be able to show their metal against this slimmer field of competition. With excellent facilities at both clubs, they have everything that they need to take the next step and dispatch some of the smaller university clubs.
Prediction
Whilst it should be a foregone conclusion that the bigger clubs take the medals, especially those that call the Tyne home such as Newcastle and Durham, those who know student rowing will be aware there’s often more than first meets the eye. There’s always a surprise somewhere and it’s just a matter of where that will be, potentially for this edition from the likes of Edinburgh or Nottingham making a bid to be amongst the big names in student rowing for this season.
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