The 2015/16 season presented a large challenge to the MUBC men’s squad with the loss of 6 rowers from the 1st VIII from last year.
Our head race season was focused on bringing a new set of athletes up to speed both technically and in terms of fitness. We saw familiarly strong results at local head races, with multiple wins at Runcorn small boats head. Of particular note in the early season was a strong performance by the 1st coxed IV at the fours head – placing 114th overall and 4th in IM2. Moving on from a strong early performance on the tideway we set our eyes on BUCS head and head of the river. At BUCS head notable performances were a 4th and 5th place finish in intermediate coxed and coxless fours respectively.
Our 8 was off the pace somewhat placing 12th out of 48 entries in intermediate 8s and so we set our sights on bringing the VIII up to speed in preparation for HORR and BUCS regatta. The hard work paid off and after a less than flawless row, we came 74th. This is the best result at the head for MUBC since 2010.
After training camp during easter we faced Liverpool University in Runcorn in several pieces, culminating in a 2000m race. We won by a small margin but learnt a lot about ourselves and made big improvements in top end speed in the run up to BUCS regatta.
At BUCS regatta we entered championship VIII in order to compare ourselves to the top end crews. We placed 7th in the time trial but ultimately came 4th in a tight semi final, only missing out on the final by ¾ of a length to Glasgow University.
The following day we had a top coxed 4 entered in championship IVs that placed 8th out of 11 in the time trial but finished last in a very fast semi final.
Looking towards Henley we aim to enter an VIII into the temple challenge cup, as well as competing at Reading and Marlow regatta. I hope to see you all at Henley!