It was a fine, sunny spring day for the 2011 Lagan Head of the River. There were three sets of races, with many entries from school clubs and few from universities outside Queen’s. Nevertheless, the competition provided a good environment for every squad to test their fitness and stamina, if only for a race against the clock.
In the first set of races of scullers and doubles, the Queen’s Women’s Intermediate 2-, steered by Alex Greene, was the first women’s crew to finish with a time of 12:00. Queen’s Men’s rower Aaron Kernohan placed 9th amongst the scullers with a time of 12:29. The next set of races were pairs and fours, and the Queen’s Men’s Intermediate 4, coxed by Harry Davies, finished second overall with a time of 10:10, ten seconds off the winners, Bann Rowing Club. The Queen’s Men’s Novice 4, coxed by Chris Gray, finished fourth with a time of 10:54. The Queen’s Women’s Novice 4 was again the first women’s crew to finish with a time of 12:34. In the final set, the race to win the Men’s 8 could be seen as a time trial between the two top Queen’s Men’s crews. Each had been given their own set of instructions from Head Coach, Mark Fangen-Hall, as to how to approach the race. The result was QUBBC Senior 8 A, coxed by Harry Davies, finishing first with a time of 13:31, closely followed by QUBBC Senior 8 B, coxed by Lauren Owens, at 13:50. QUBBC Novice 8 B crew, coxed by James Byrne, finished fifth at 15:19, and QUBBC Novice 8 A crew, coxed by Chris Gray, following at 17:05. The Queen’s Women’s Intermediate 8, coxed by Ellen Thompson, was once again the first women’s crew to finish with a time of 16:05. The QUBLBC Novice 8, coxed by Alfa Yu, was not so far behind with a time of 16:28. Overall, respectable performances by all Queens’ crews, with notable competitiveness between Men’s Senior A and B crews as well as Women’s Intermediate and Novice crews. This should keep all rowers in these boats on their toes as the rowing season advances.
Queen's University Belfast Boat Clubs
