Tag Archives: UCLBC

Frustration for KCLBC at Allom Cup

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KCLBC had a frustrating days racing at the 2011 Allom Cup, making four finals but failing to win any medals after a controversial disqualification for the Men’s Senior VI against UCL.

The Men’s Senior VIII went out in the semi-finals to the eventual winners UCL, losing the Allom Cup, which has been held by KCL for all but 2 of the preceding 13 years.  Half of the VIII then raced in the Men’s Senior IV, against half of the UCL VIII who had just beaten them. Determined not to let get UCL get away without a fight, King’s had a strong start, and were ahead of UCL for most of the race and across the finish line. However, a disputed clash of blades led to disqualification. The Men’s Intermediate VIII got to their final, where they were beaten by ICSM.

The Senior Women’s crews reached both their finals, with the Senior Women’s VIII going out to ICSM and the IV being beaten by RUMS. The Intermediate crews reached both their semis, with the VIII and the IV being beaten by Bart’s and ICSM respectively.

Fresh from racing the UH Novice Sprints the previous weekend, the Novice squad were keen to prove themselves. However, after several crew changes and last minute scratchings, the Men’s Novice VIII lost to Royal Holloway in their semi-final, and the two women’s crews were beaten by RVC and RUMS.

Following the unusual regatta training in the depths of winter, both squads are now looking to the head season. More urgently, there is the Boat Club Christmas Dinner – one of the year’s highlights – to look forward to, not to mention the annual Christmas Pudding Races!

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KCLBC Women success in WeHORR

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KCL Boat Club’s senior women’s first VIII placed 80th out of 315 crews in the 76th annual Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (WeHORR), the largest women’s rowing race in the world. In a race where few London colleges fielded a second crew, KCLBC second VIII put in a solid performance to finish 266th; not a bad achievement considering 6 of the 8 only took up rowing in September.  Both crews combined experienced rowers and novice rowers who have progressed to training and racing with the senior squad.

KCLBC last competed in WeHORR in 2009, when the first VIII finished 176th. Women’s captain and cox Anna Turner said “This is the best WeHORR result KCL have had in over 10 years, and leaves us in a strong position for the summer season. It’s good to see that the hours of training we’ve put in have paid off. Special thanks go to our coach, Rhona MacCullum who has overseen our new training program”.

The WeHORR is the female counterpart of the Men’s Eights Head of the River. The 4 ¼ mile course is the same as for the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, but is rowed in reverse. Rather than crews going head to head, each crew rows down the course at intervals and their times are recorded to give the results. The race is one of the longest ‘head’ style races. Crews get a welcome cheer from supporters on Hammersmith Bridge, just over halfway down the course.

Varsity rivals UCL finished in 59th place, but aside from this the KCL first VIII placed above every other UL college and medical school, with Royal Vets (138th), ICSM (184th), RUMS (195th), St Georges (216th) and LSE (291st) trailing far behind. This leaves KCLBC in a strong position for the upcoming regatta season, and most importantly, the medical school Bumps, raced at the end of May between the 6 United Hospitals colleges.

UH Regatta 2011 & Allom Cup MChamp VIII Final

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The UH Winter Regatta hails a ’3rd time lucky’ moment for the fresh with their standing starts (after the Novice Sprints and Allom Cup). Luck of the draw however – this year the majority of our male fresh are in fact studying ‘Strand’ subjects allowing us to field the Invitational Novice VIII against UCL!

The crew of Alex Drewett (Bow), Sam Rowe, Rory Sherlock, Michael Bradley, Deji Olanilua, Alex Franklin, Jamie Barrell, Simon McTurk (Stroke) and Cox won their straight semi-final against UCL A to go on to defeat UCL B in the final. Great job from them and a good sign of things to come from KCLBCs home grown rowers.

The seniors had a great day as well. Following the disappointment of the Allom Cup where light, extended lunch breaks and perhaps questionable organisation resulted in many finals never having been raced – GKT were ready to show what they could do without the backup of our KCL (read: non GKT) students.

Both the men and women’s GKT (A) Senior IVs won their events easily, with the men’s final being a straight up GKT A vs GKT B and the women’s KCL vs GKT. Well done to Darragh O’Reilly, Ed Griffiths, George Halse, Ben Soni, Kate Horne, Emily Frost and Anna Turner (Cox).

Equally GKT made a clean sweep of the Senior VIIIs as well. Going up against RUMs in the semi-final, GKT Senior Men agreed with RUMs that this would be the decider of the Allom Cup final that was never finished – even though the GKT squad was missing some of its key KCL members. GKT won to go on to the final, marking probably the first time GKT has actually won the Allom Cup.

The final, however, was not so straightforward. A failure with the rudder mechanism meant the boat was locked on to a hard right course pushing the other finalists, ICSM, more and more off their course. Long story short: ICSM failed to challenge for their line allowing GKT their victory. Well done to Ed Griffiths, Ben Soni, George Halse, Darragh O’Reilly, Adrian McCague, Joe Hetherington, Tom Hodkinson, John Denny and Anna Turner (Cox).

The Women’s Senior VIII GKT crew of Kate Horne, Emily Frost, and Anna Turner (Cox) also won making the event a decisive victory for GKT to add to KCLBCs already successful year.