2019 has been a very successful year for rowing at the University of Gloucestershire so far, but nothing screams success more than our very first Varsity win against Worcester.

After months of tough training, abstinence from alcohol and boat racing for crew selections, our woman’s 4x, men’s 2x and woman’s 2x entered the water and battled the heavy rain on Worcester Wednesday. With very cold conditions on one of the rainiest days Varsity could have possibly been held on, the crews still went ahead with the race as spectators shivering on the sidelines cheered them on. We even had our own personal mascot to give us support!

First up was our quad: Alicia Gulliver, Megan Jones-Gerrard, Hayley Keveren and Jade Colton. Setting Gloucester off to a very promising start, they won their race. Second was Dan Gillett and Harry Thurkettle in the men’s 2x unfortunately losing against 2 of UOW’s men, leaving the overall result down to Alicja Gulliver and Jade Colton in the final race.

Despite the loss from our men’s 2x, our woman’s 4x and 2x won, giving Gloucester and overall victory, the first Varsity win out of all of UOG’s sports teams.

We couldn’t have been happier with our Varsity win and in the evening we had our first alcoholic drinks in weeks to celebrate. Here’s to next year – let’s keep up our winning streak!