Head of the River Race 2024 – The Bernard Churcher Trophy Preview

As the gem in the British head racing season, the Head of the River Race has attracted entries from across the UK and a few from farther afield. And while many of the southern institutions skipped BUCS Head, there is near perfect attendance among the heavy hitters of university rowing as they compete for the Bernard Churcher Trophy. This will be one of the key early-season markers as they eyes are drawn towards the summer season and the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in July. 

Oxford Brookes University BC

Long established as the powerhouse of student rowing in the United Kingdom, Oxford Brookes University Boat Club have eight crews starting within the top thirty this week, more than any other club has within the whole draw. However, only the ‘C’ crew is listed as being eligible for the University trophy. With many students likely to be racing in the top two crews as their Olympic hopefuls remain at Caversham, this may not be as dominant a performance as we have become used to seeing from the Wallingford men. They only managed to win by 1.1 seconds in this event last year, this could be the opportunity for Brookes to be knocked of their perch. 

Cancellations have meant that this will be the one and only head raced by Henry Bailhache-Webb’s men but strong results in the Boat Race fixtures suggest that there the burgundy beast is roaring as strongly as ever. A loss in this event would be a serious blow for Brookes, but there is no reason to believe that the dynasty is over yet.

University of London BC

Twelve months ago, the University of London Boat Club came agonisingly close to winning the Bernard Churcher Trophy for the first time since 2014. This year they will again attempt to take prize back upriver to Chiswick.

A strong 2023 campaign was highlighted by Championship Silver in the eight at BUCS Regatta, although ending with them drawing both of the eventual finalists on day one of the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. 

Like many others, the conditions have limited their racing resume to just one outing since the summer, as they would claim third overall at Hammersmith Head, behind only London RC and Molesey BC. With such limited racing results it is tough to draw any significant conclusions from this result, though UL were faster than both of those clubs 12 months ago. Whether this was the benefit of those club’s recruiting or the detriment of the University crew, they will be looking to emulate the results their women’s squad were able to achieve two weeks ago and post a strong performance here this weekend.

Durham University BC

After a strong performance last season, it looked as if it was going to be a down-year early this season for Durham University Boat Club. An underwhelming performance at Rutherford Head suggested they were well of the pace of their potential rivals. However, at BUCS Head, the tide had changed as they would emerge as Gold Medallists in the Championship Eights. With no major changes to the line-up, Rob Dauncey and Will Fletcher have found this speed through the hard grind of winter training, rather than through selection shakeups.

One caveat to this success comes in that Durham have been known to target their spring peak at BUCS Head, often at the expense of the Tideway Heads. How this will manifest itself this year is hard to tell, but Durham’s resiliency after a strong result will be key if they want to find success this weekend.

Edinburgh University BC

Edinburgh University Boat Club have been a hard program to pin down so far this season. Thy began their season at Rutherford Head and despite missing a few big names through illness, finished in a mightily impressive third place overall, behind only Newcastle University Boat Club and Molesey Boat Club. By February and BUCS Head they had recovered from illness and the addition of talent from their elite sculling group such as double-international Josh Matthews promised to bring them to the next level. However, when the results came through, it was not the positive step they had hoped. Instead, they had been overhauled, setting slower times than both the Durham University first eight and the Newcastle University second eight.

Since BUCS, Colin Williamson hopes that a regimen of seat racing at the Inverness Winter will give the crew a clear idea of their true first eight and drive them to greater success on the Tideway this weekend but being stuck in between their rivals from just south of the border on the draw will make it a high-pressure task for the baby blue army.

Newcastle University BC

Newcastle University Boat Club entered the afternoon session at BUCS Head as the dominant force. Domination as they had gone four from four in the morning’s sweep events backing up their dominant showing at Rutherford Head in December, coming out ahead of a resurgent Molesey Boat Club squad. However, it did not go all the way of the blue star, as local rivals Durham University would take the blue ribbon Championship Eights event.

How they respond to this adversity will be key to the success of their season. They have plenty of strong reinforcements as their Second eight, enroute to Intermediate Gold would beat all the visiting first eights in the Championship division demonstrating great depth in Angelo Savarino’s revamped program.

Taking five University eights down shows a lot of firepower; making the trip from the Northeast they will be hoping to get their season back on track and take the fight to those from the South.

Imperial College BC

Not bearing the ‘High Performance Academy’ tag from British Rowing but often grouped among them, the task for Imperial College Boat Club is a very challenging one as they attempt to sit at the top table of British university rowing. Last season was one of great success for the men in blue, black and silver as they picked up second place at BUCS Head and fourth at BUCS Regatta in the Championship Eights, however this season does not look like it will bare such fruits.

A season that began with an uninspiring eighteenth place at the Quintin Head in January and did not improve at BUCS Head as they were 27 seconds off the golden pace of Durham University. It would seem that Imperial College are more likely to be competing with elite second eights than the first eights they would rather see themselves alongside. But don’t write them off completely, racing on home water in what are likely to be challenging conditions, they may be able to pull off a shock and put themselves right back into the conversation for the summer.

University of Bristol BC

The University of Bristol Boat Club have managed to position themselves as the ‘best of the rest’ in British university rowing, especially for men’s sweep athletes. After dominating the Intermediate ranks in 2022, they made the step up to Championship for BUCS Regatta in 2023, holding their own making an A Final in the eight. It would be expected that following the graduation of U23 world champion Robbie Prosser there would be a regression back into the pack, however this has not been the case. While the result at Quintin Head left plenty to be desired, they responded with a vengeance at Hammersmith Head picking up fifth overall, just 2.5 seconds behind the powerhouse University of London.

Coming into this season, Bristol will have grown tired of simply being the best of the rest and will be looking to shake it up alongside the more established high-performance centres, and this crew looks capable of achieving that lofty goal.

Others

Nottingham University Boat Club and Exeter University Boat Club raced within Championship Eights at BUCS Head but were well off the pace. They will be looking to improve upon those results as they race much closer to home on the Tideway.

Of the ‘best of the rest’ in the Intermediate ranks, silver medallists Queen’s University Belfast Boat Club have not made the trip across to London to race in this event, typically saving their ferry trips for BUCS-specific racing. Seventh place Glasgow University Boat Club race in Open with the addition of their non-student athletes, so the University of York Boat Club is the best placed from that group to be competing for the University pennant this weekend. Southampton University Boat Club will bring three eights up from the south coast after skipping BUCS Head with the first of them having the points to start within the top 75.

From overseas there are two entries in this event. University College Cork Boat Club will be flying the flag for Ireland and CentraleSupélec make the trip across from Paris. Based on previous results they will be unlikely to trouble the top performers at this race but will want to see how they would slot into Britain’s hotly competitive student rowing scene.

This race also attracts entries from college boat clubs. More used to closed racing among themselves at Durham, Oxford or Cambridge while occasionally taking on local ‘town’ clubs. The weekend will see many of them will be taking on the challenge of institutions with much larger student bases. The top-pointed representatives to look out for from the Wear, Isis and Cam will be Collingwood College Boat Club, University College Boat Club and Emmanuel College Boat Club respectively.

Predictions

With the who’s who of University rowing coming together to race this will be key in determining how the Regatta season will be understood. Unsurprisingly, Oxford Brookes are my pick to win the Bernard Churcher Trophy but given the nature of their entries, they may be more fragile in that position than they have been in a number of years. However, in my view their best challengers, the University of London, will need to be more worried about the assault from the north in the form of Newcastle University and Durham University than they will be about winning the event. Don’t be surprised to see Bristol University high up on the final results sheet, possibly taking some impressive scalps on their way.

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