Reviews
Cambridge University vs Oxford Brookes University ‘B’
When entering this event, I doubt this Cambridge University Boat Club crew made up of a goldie, a lightweight and two third-eight athletes would have expected to make it all the way into the semi final. But by virtue of a weaker than expected entry and a fortunate draw, they managed to line up today with a shot at the final. Standing in their way was Oxford Brookes University ‘B’, a strong crew made up of athletes who were competing at the pointy end of their intermediate crews at BUCS Regatta. That crew was just too strong for the light blues to deal with as they quickly jumped out to a one-length lead by the barrier. From here on out they controlled the race stretching to a maximum gap of two and a half lengths, winding down to finish a length and a half ahead of Cambridge to book their place in Sunday’s final.
Oxford Brookes University ‘A’ vs University of London ‘A’
With their top priority crew, the University of London had the opportunity to book themselves into the final of the Prince Albert Challenge Cup. But standing in their way was an imperious Oxford Brookes University crew who had already taken down another top boat from a high performance program. If they wanted to match the powerful crew based out of Wallingford, the UL crew knew they needed to match them off the start, but they were just unable to do so. Brookes, perhaps anticipating this decisive moment, pushed hard off the start and had an open water lead by the quarter-mile. Once they established their lead it was simply a case of managing it, as the margin would rise and fall throughout the race and ultimately rising to more than two lengths as they crossed the finish line.
Previews
Oxford University Brookes ‘A’ vs Oxford University Brookes ‘B‘
Oxford Brookes, what more can I say? Early in the season, I admit I questioned if the Oxford Brookes train could keep rolling this year, with a number of their top athletes switching into Leander pink at the start of the year. But while it remains to be seen how the top end of the Wallingford group perform in their open and intermediate events, the student group have responded in force with both this performance as well as in the Temple Challenge Cup, where – at the time of writing – they could match this outcome as well. While smaller in its number, the top end of the entry to the Prince Albert has been high quality with stacked entries from the universities of Edinburgh and London as well as La Salle from the United States. Add to the mix the lightweights of Harvard and Cornell, the performance from Oxford Brookes has been phenomenal and this final will be a well deserved celebration of all things burgundy.
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