Head of the River rowing

13 March 2018

Both the men and women entered a crew of eight into the Head of the River Race and Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (HoRR, WeHoRR) at the weekend.

The event is a “head race” or time trial, with both academic and club rowers entering from the UK and abroad. Just over 300 crews entered each event, which takes place on the tideway in London over the same 6.8km stretch of river as the Oxford/Cambridge boat race, but with the direction of racing reversed. It gives our rowers a chance to compete in noticeably different conditions to those they’re used to in Oxford, as the width of the river, strength of the tide and the presence of waves from the sea all affect the racing.

The women (racing on Saturday) settled onto the solid rhythm off the start. Before long, the cox called a length to the University of York boat. Soon overtaking them, they then set their sights on the University of Chester. After overtaking once again there were encouraging cheers from the bridge and bank at Hammersmith before the last section of the race. As the finish line was coming into sight there was overlap on another crew. With a determined finish, they placed 146th with a time of 22:29.4, a result to be proud of and a great send off for the finalists in the boat and a solid platform for next term’s W1. We look forward to seeing successes to come!

Here’s some footage of our Women’s VIII competing at the Head of the River Race at the weekend in London. They finished up 44 places with a time of 22:49.4 beating off competition from the RAF! @hecbc #hertfordcollege #hecbc

A post shared by Hertford College (@hertfordcollege) on Mar 13, 2018 at 3:10am PDT

Cox: Jack Yates
Stroke: Philippa Thornton
7: Sarah Edwards
6: Maddie Burrell
5: Annie Ault
4: Sophie Clark
3: Harriet Thomas
2: Ellie Van Vogt
Bow: Grace Davis

The men (racing on Sunday) found their race to be an enjoyable conclusion to a hard term of early mornings and intense land training. After setting off the rate was consistently at and above the planned target for the duration. With the crew ahead starting quite a while before the Hertford crew, there was nothing meaningful to chase but the landmarks on the river. As each one passed, the rowing was consistent, with the crew adapting to and overcoming the novel conditions on the tideway. Ultimately they came 210th with a time of 20:48.5, and look forward to more opportunities to have fun racing in the summer.

Our men’s VIII also competed at the weekend in London finishing the course in a time of 20:48.5 @hecbc #hertfordcollege #hecbc

A post shared by Hertford College (@hertfordcollege) on Mar 13, 2018 at 3:11am PDT

Cox: Ettie Caverly

Stroke: Danny de Rozairo
7: Harry Connor
6: Hamish Streeter
5: Jack Waterman
4: Freddie von Kaufmann
3: Maciej Bugala
2: Patrick Austin

Bow: James Parr