Dublin Head 30/03/13
And so we come to the end of the head season.
On the cold morning of Saturday, March 30th, three QUBBC Novice Eights travelled down to Dublin to (hopefully) see off the cold temperatures until next season.
There were two solid performances from the Lady’s Novice ‘A’ and ‘B’ Eights while the Novice Men’s Eight lost out in a particularly tight race.
In a close race for quickest Novice Men’s Eight, Queen’s finished with a time of 11:39, just lagging behind the Trinity Novice Men’s 11:17 who won the coveted title.
The Ladies ‘A’ and ‘B’ crews were up against stiff competition, losing out on the top positions for their category to UCD’s Lady’s Novice Eight, finishing as the fastest Ladies Novice Eight with a time of 13:34, closely followed by the Trinity Novice Lady’s Eight time of 13:57. The exact times of the QUBLBC Novice Eight’s Crew times are currently unavailable but will be added as soon as they become available.
Though losses are always disappointing, these are fairly solid results considering the QUBBC crews were doing erg testing in the days leading up to the race.
London Head Cancelled!
At the 11th hour the word was made official: London Head of the River Race 2013 was cancelled. On Friday morning, March 22nd after a particularly cold stretch of wind and snow which was forecast to continue over the weekend, necessary steps were taken by the organizers of London HORR to cancel this year’s head race, much to the dismay of eager Rowing Crews across Ireland and the UK, the Queen’s Senior Men’s Eight being of course one of them. The bad weather also resulted in the cancellation of various flights to London that weekend, which meant the majority of the Senior Eight could not make it over to London at all, consequently cancelling Queen’s competing in the University Match Racing scheduled for Sunday, against the likes of Imperial College London, Oxford Brookes and Newcastle.
However, our Vice-Captain and Newcastle University Boat Club Alumni Matt McKibbin had arranged his flight a day earlier to the Friday, thus he was available to race over the weekend and stepped up to racing in the Newcastle 2nd Eight following an illness of their ‘Four’ man. The 2nd Eight came seventh over the first match race, a 1900m time trial, which gained the crew entry into the ‘B’ final where they finished in fourth place over a 2km course. Way to make the most of a bad weekend Matt!
QUBBC Vice Captain and Newcastle University Boat Club Alumni Matt McKibbin, second far left.
So, a mixed atmosphere as we reach the end of the 2012/13 Head Season, but, more importantly, Head Season is now officially over- onward to Regatta Season-Let’s go QUBBC!
Upcoming Races, Events & Reminders
- Irish University Championships, Saturday, April 13th, National Rowing Centre, Cork
- Queen’s Regatta, Saturday, April 27th, Castlewellan
london HORR I think that the “powers that be” –acted -timely and responsibly with the very best interests of all involved – any implied suggestion otherwise is not appropriate. With tide and heavy land water against a stiff 16 knot breeze with wind chill of -5 celsius in light snow with poor visibility –exactly as forecast– to consider putting 5000 athletes out in those conditions on the Tideway could have been considered criminally negligent if there had been an incident.. Angus McKibbin
Hi Angus, there was no ‘implied suggestion’ intended with my wording of the update regarding the decision taken to cancel this year’s London Head, I understand fully how dangerous the conditions could have proved to be if the race went ahead. However, to avoid any further suspicion I have updated the text by changing the terms used to describe the decision taken, to what I hope is considered more ‘appropriate.’
Hope this helps.
Gabriel Patrick Doran
jolly good-thanks –these decisions are always difficult for the organisers but unfortunately cancelling is sometimes the only sensible option and on this occasion they should be commended. But thank you for taking time to make the amendment. Angus