This term has been a positive one with PBs being achieved and medals being won and we’re less than half way through the academic year! Not only has there been lots of competitive success, these past few months have bonded us as a club and socially we’ve done so much too.

Here’s our round-up reflecting on everything we’re so proud to have achieved so far in semester 1.

Freshers

The best place to start is of course at the very beginning of the semester with our new Freshers joining UOGRC. At the Freshers Fayre we had loads of interest in the club, lots of sign ups and some competitive attempts at our 200m sprint challenge.

Moving on to our Learn to Row sessions, we’ve gained some very valuable members of our team, some of whom have already competed for us! Since their introductory sessions, our freshers have experienced rowing in various different boats with other novices and seniors and by themselves in stable singles too. Emma Chenery and Evie Budesha were confident enough to go out in fine singles without capsizing! Owen Goddard, who was a land member last year, has quickly learnt to row on the water and has been out in singles too.

Gloucester Head

At Gloucester’s Autumn Head in October, we had Dan Gillett racing in a single who had a very good performance with his first 1x race of the season. Jade Colton and Matt Jones also raced as a double, being the fasted mixed 2x boat of the day.

Avon Head

Our next race of the season was the Autumn Head where some of our novices and seniors joined in coxed quads to race along the river Avon. In the women’s 4x+ we entered Emma Chenery, Evie Budesha, Amber Mawdsey and Hayley Keveren, coxed by Emmanuelle Pull. In the men’s 4x+ were Dan Gillett, Kieran Bird, Owen Goddard and Harry Thurkettle, coxed by Jade Colton.

It was a fun but muddy day in Bristol and our Freshers had a great time at their first competitive event!

BRIC and Welsh Indoors

Now for the medals. Our indoor championships are always successful and this year we came away from Welsh Indoors with a bronze and won another bronze at British Rowing Indoor Championships too.

Our first indoor championships of the season was Welsh Indoors in Cardiff. A couple of our freshers, who’d only been rowing for 3 months at the time, raced in the Fresher 1k. Evie Budesha came 40/81 and Kieran Bird won himself a bronze medal! In the student 2k, we entered Hayley Keveren, Dan Gillett and Torben Beyer. The boys also raced in the 500m sprint category.

BRIC as per usual was an exciting day out. Hayley Keveren, Torben Beyer, Harry Thurkettle, Owen Goddard and Dan Gillett all rowed a 2k and the boys also rowed in the 4k relay race.

Our team achieved multiple PBs in their 2ks, Hayley Keveren beat her 2k PB from Welsh Indoors and Owen Goddard rowed his 2k in sub-7 minutes. Our Novice Captain, Dan Gillett, also got a bronze medal in the lightweight category meaning 2 years in a row we’ve had one of our lightweight rowers on the podium!

Overall we’ve had not only an exciting and successful competitive semester but also a really fun one. As a club we’re extremely proud of the quick progress our freshers and seniors have made this year so far and can’t wait to train even harder in preparation for our races in the next semester.

To finish off, here’s a congratulations to all of our rowers but especially those who won awards at our Christmas meal this year:

Most improved – Owen Goddard

Best team spirit -Emmanuelle Pull

Fresher performance of the term -Kieran Bird

Senior performance of the term -Daniel Gillett

Most engaged -Torben Beyer

Most mileage – Jade Colton

Highest attendance -Hayley Keveren

Rower of the term – Heather Sullivan