Imperial Dominate at Winter Regatta
Jac Cooper
Not for us the calm “millpond” of Dorney Lake or the sheltered straights at Henley. The conditions at UH Winter Sprints on Sunday represented rowing at its most authentic - adapting to the nuances of the tempestuous Tideway in the bitter cold and harassing winds. Though the competitors had rowed in worse, the weather added another edge to what was a day of closely contested races.
The United Hospitals regulars of Bart’s, St George’s, ICSM, RUMS, GKT and the Royal College of Vets lined up with some invitational crews from the parent University clubs of UCL and King’s College, hoping to beat these bigger clubs as well as their rivals within UH.
The course was approximately 800m between the University of London Boat House and Chiswick Bridge, not very far and making the sprint start and ability to quickly settle into a good rhythm especially important.The Novice VIII category, where competitors have to be in their first year of competitive rowing, saw some strong crews that will only get better and better, with ICSM men beating George’s to make the final against King’s who were too much for ICSM’s 2nd boat.
In a thrilling race there was little to separate the two crews but King’s just came out in front, with the runners up receiving medals as the best UH crew.
KCL novices put in an impressive performance considering their crew included one fresher who had never actually sat in a rowing boat before the day of the race.
A similar story was seen in the revenging Novice women where ICSM were judged rather controversially to have pipped George’s to the finish in a tight semi-final but could not overcome a formidable UCL crew, who had beaten RUMS en route, in the final. The women’s crew also got medals, as they too were the top crew in UH.
In the IVs races, there were only Senior Women boats competing and RUMS overcame Bart’s in the final to win their sole medal of the day. Then in the Intermediate category (for colleges’ 2nd VIIIs to compete against each other) RUMS women lost to ICSM in an exciting encounter between clubs that have been rivals of sorts in recent years.
ICSM had made the final by defeating George’s in their semi, a result that was avenged in the Senior women’s race straight afterward.
ICSM men powered past RUMS before facing a George’s crew who had a bye to the final. With a fierce tailwind and a rapid stream, and after ICSM delayed the race due to boat-sharing, another tough battle ensued.
Imperial medics took the lead off the start but George’s showed their guts in fighting back, just falling short at the very end to leave ICSM with another set of medals.
Finally in the Senior VIII races, George’s bested RUMS after revenging their 2nd VIII against ICSM in the heats to come against GKT who had seen off Bart’s to get to the final. George’s managed to prevail against the club that start just ahead of them as first place in the next UH sprint race this year, Bumps in May. GKT’s men’s VIII were knocked out in their first race against ICSM, in a repeat of the grander Allom Cup’s final from last month, which suggests that a seeding system might be advisable. ICSM then beat Vets in the semi-final, with George’s beating RUMS to join them in yet another final.
In the past couple of seasons contests between these crews had been close and determined, and this was no exception. However, Imperial managed to triumph and increase their total haul of medals to five out of seven (in terms of UH clubs) with the others taken by RUMS and George’s, who will both surely be looking to hit back at the next event next month. We eagerly anticipate the nest UH event on February 18th.
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