The rivalry between the Universities of Bristol and Bath was settled for the year during a private match-up last weekend, with senior, novice and alumni crews battling on their shared stretch of the River Avon.
The races, held on Saturday following the cancellation of the UoB Head, took place over the 3.2km long course and 1km short course, offering crews a chance to put their preparation over recent months to good use, whilst giving the novices their first ever chance at racing.
Long Course
Starting racing off was Bristol’s first eight, who took full advantage of the clear river in front of them and, with some daring steering through the infamous Danger Bridge by cox Millie Hobbs, took the Headship with a comfortable 19 second win over Bath who were racing without their Start athletes.
Bath took honours for fastest women’s crew of the day with their two student eights coming first and third in their category, with the top crew a full 44 seconds ahead of Bristol, who were forced to stop mid-race to avoid hitting the bridge. After a quick restart, the crew were able to find their rhythm again, but the deficit was too much to make up in the final mile.
A blistering row from Bristol’s women’s quad saw them clinch the second fastest women’s crew of the day, almost a minute ahead of their competition from Bath and even overturning Bath’s men’s quad by just over three seconds.
The battle of the men’s second eights was won by Bath with a five second margin over Bristol, who also misjudged the bridge bend and went on safari among the bushes in the bank. The only coxed four of the long course, entered by Bristol, came a further 30 seconds back.
As regular entrants at the UoB Head, the Alumni clubs, Meles (Bath) and Nonesuch (Bristol) both put on a good showing in the eights, with both sending mens and womens crews down the course.
Meles took bragging rights on the day with the men as the third fastest crew of the day overall, beating Nonesuch by 12 seconds, and the women putting a resounding 40 second gap between themselves and their counterparts, only coming 20 seconds behind the student eight.
Completing the division were a series of small boats from Bristol with the fastest mens and women’s crews being single scullers Joe Murphy and Lara Grant, putting on impressive rows to not only win their categories but even push themselves into competition with a number of crew boats in the division.
Short Course
Usually the most popular event at the Head Race for spectators, the novice category has seen a vast range of performances over the years, from standout rows down the 1km straight to absolute chaos.
With a significantly reduced number of competing crews, the event gave the new rowers more breathing room, with all boats putting out some impressive performances given their relative inexperience that will pave the way for the rest of the season.
Results for the novice men’s eights were amazingly close with Bristol’s A crew securing the win by the smallest of margins, only half a second over their B crew. Bath’s A crew came only a second and a half further back, ahead of their B crew by 24 seconds.
Bristol also took the novice women’s eight win, with their only crew coming seven seconds ahead of Bath’s top crew, who in turn were 17 seconds faster than their second crew.
Alongside the novices, Bristol made use of the event to race four senior women’s doubles of varying experience levels down the course, with the win taken by Lara Grant and Efa WIlson.
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