Roaring Success for Queens at BUCS

Last weekend saw Queen’s University Belfast travelling to the British Universities & Colleges Sport Regatta in Nottingham.   

Following on from the first two regattas of the year at the Irish University Championships and Skibbereen Regatta in Cork during April, the Men’s Squad had set their sights on Nottingham.

 

Results & Medals 

The first success came from the Beginner 4X- comprising of Luke McAnespie at Stroke, Michael McNamee at 3, Patrick Holden at 2 and Jack Knight at Bow. The Beginner men displayed great nerve and conviction to go against a club such as Reading  and emerge with a 2nd place posting a time of 07:59.16  

 

Next we saw the Lightweight 4- of Miles Taylor stroking with last years Captain Luke McCann and the current Captain, Jason Armstrong making up the middle pair of the crew (3 and 2 respectively) with Jordan Wilson in the bow seat. The crew has been together for the majority of the season and the time invested in training shined through in their Bronze medal against Nottingham and Newcastle posting a time of 07:04.43   

 

The success kept coming for Queens with Phillip Doyle clinching a Silver medal in the Championship 1X, a mere 4.14 seconds behind Sam Twine from Reading who is the current U23 British Indoor Rowing Champion. 

 

The following day Phillip Doyle returned with double scull partner Tiernan Oliver to compete in the Championship 2X in which they dominated the course winning gold with a time of 08:03.16. A fantastic achievement for both oarsmen that has come about from rigorous dedication  all year.

 

Returning to the big boats, the Intermediate Men took part in the Lightweight 8+

Lead by Cox- Carol Moorehead the crew of Stroke-Miles Taylor, Seven- Luke McCann, Six- Jordan Wilson, Five- Jason Armstrong, Four- Brent Whiteside, Three- Harry Mahoney, Two- Patrick Martin, Bow- David Roy took to the water and faced off against Exeter, Cambridge and Newcastle. In what can only be described as stern competition (no pun intended) the Queen’s Men placed 3rd with a time of 7:11.94 against crews from three of the largest rowing universities in Britain  with 2nd place going to the official Cambridge Lightweight 8+ and 1st place going to Newcastle who were the overall winners at BUCS. 

 

In a great performance by Michael McNamee who only joined Queen’s Rowing in October of last year managed to place 3rd in the Beginner 1X A Final posting a time of 8:57.57.

The emphasis on Novice/Beginner sculling has always held a special importance at QUBBC and has been greatly emphasized by Novice Coaches; Dr Patrick Doherty, Mark McMullan and Novice Head Coach Dr Phil Costen this year. The weekend also saw Ciaran Foster placing 6th in the Beginner 1X B Final with a time of 9:59.32 and is pictured below on the left.    

 

Moving to the Men’s Beginner 4+ QUBBC placed 1st in the D Final from Cox- Bilal Korimbocus, Bow-Thomas Drummond, Two-Patrick Meenan, Three-Matthew Elliot, Stroke-Johannes Lobinger.

A second Beginner 4 comprising of Stroke- Niall Moore, Three- Fionnbharr Brady, Two- Harry Webb and Bow- Ciaran Foster and Cox- Abbie Ellis Saunders competed with times and placing to follow.

 

We also saw racing from David Roy and Patrick Martin in the Mens Intermediate Lightweight 1X posting time of 9:02.83 and 8:39.29 respectively in the D Final with Ross Taylor posting a time of 9:21.26 in the E Final.

Finally to the Men’s Beginner 8+. With the recent success over the weekend the QUB Novice 8+ took to the water fueled for a hard fight taking on the best in Britain. The novice Empacher of Cox-Bilal Korimbocus, Stroke-Luke McAnespie , Seven-Michael McNamee , Six-Johannes Lobinger , Five-Thomas Drummond , Four-Patrick Meenan , Three-Cesar Jimenez , Two-Patrick Holden and Bow-Jack Knight  rowed hard against the rest of the field and placed a respectable 4th with a time of 7:36.54. 

 

What’s Next?

With racing concluded Queen’s Men came away with;

2 x Gold, 5 x Silver and 14 x Bronze Medals for the club with no shortage of smiles shown and effort made.

• We look forward to the weekend which will see Queens hosting their own Regatta at Castlewellan Forest Park on Saturday 7th May.
• Queen’s Rowing also has Tiernan Oliver and Christopher Beck travelling to Ghent International Regatta in Belgium to compete in the Heavyweight 2X and the Lightweight 1X. As usual we shall keep you up to date with their progress.

 

As we enter into our stride for the Regatta Season we will endeavor to bring you more details of racing events and results but please also refer to our Facebook and Twitter pages for even more information, news and videos of our athletes, links to which can be found below:

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