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Race Reports

Henley Qualifiers 2019

MUBC had two boats rowing at Henley Royal Regatta qualifiers. Our VIII+ competed in the Temple Challenge Cup and the IV+ in the Prince Albert Challenge cup.

MUBC’s ruthlessly competitive mens’ heavyweight IV+ and VIII+ made a spectacular start to their season a few weeks before HRR by starting to train. The crew rapidly “gelled” as metres rolled by, with coxswains Freddie Barnes and Dylan O’Connor-Caritou cracking the whip. In the final training sessions before HRR qualifiers, coaches John Impney and Miles McEwen described the rowing in both the boats as “almost together, kinda” and “not a complete disaster”, respectively – ready to race!

Men IV+
Mike Rawson (left), Felix Rummel, Francis Heylan, Harry Cuffe (right), Dylan O’Connor-Caritu (front)

The day of qualifiers dawned, and the weather was distinctly hotter than the Manchester residents were used to. After a pleasantly bouncy paddle down to the start, the IV+ lined up to do battle with over 40 other crews for only 4 qualifying places. Odds stacked against them, the crew barreled down the 2112-metre course as only they knew how, chasing the University of Liverpool (training partners, now rivals) and narrowly holding off a Nottingham University crew. The time trial went well: a steady start and adequate pacing aided by systematic coxing made a flying middle kilometre possible, and a good finishing time.

Their efforts were unfortunately not rewarded with a place in the main regatta, but a lot of experience was gained in the process. Hopefully this will transfer toward future endeavours in smaller boats next year.

The VIII was composed of the senior men and several novice men, who quickly rose through the ranks this year to earn themselves a place in the boat at the regatta. Whilst the crew also fell short of qualifying after putting in a valiant effort. They gained valuable experience from the training for the qualifiers and the race its self, which will be used to improve their performance in years to come. With one of the main aims of the senior mens squad nex year to have a crew qualify for the main regatta at HRR.

A massive thank you to-

  • Our sponsors Acasa for their support this year 
  • John Impney (head coach), Miles McEwan (coach)

Crews:

IV+

  • Dylan O’Connor-Caritou (coxswain)
  • Francis Heylen (bow)
  • Michael Rawson (2)
  • Felix Rummel (3)
  • Harry Cuffe (stroke)

VIII+

  • Freddie Barnes (coxswain)
  • Alex Taylor (bow)
  • Ben Curtis (2)
  • Morgan Ecott (3)
  • Karl Tahsin (4)
  • Joe Price (5)
  • Tom Bobrowski (6)
  • Mathew Layton (7)
  • Darioush Jalili (8)