On Sunday, May 16^th, an event the likes of which the Tyne has never seen before will take place.  It is the race that, unbeknownst to some of you, all your training has been aimed towards.  In memory of one of our members, Ross Moodie, who died during a climbing accident we have decided to host a regatta.  It is time for the Ross Moodie Memorial Regatta, an event previously described by Steve Redgrave as ‘the toughest, most competitive race a rower can undertake.’  Luckily, Redgrave didn’t really know how to pivot properly so it won’t be as hard for you.

The event takes place at the Newburn Boat house at 12pm on Sunday, 16^th May.  Entries are now closed and crews that have pre qualified through other such prestigious races such as ‘Scotswood Splash and Dash’, ‘Newburn Turn and Burn’, ‘the Dunstan Derby’ and ‘Wylam Sprints’ have been noted by the stewards and will be seeded accordingly.  These crews include: Any Alumni, Any southern Boat Race veterans and anyone who will row with Angelo.

The event will put all novice and senior rowers in ‘randomly’ selected coxed fours and will race over 350 metres to separate the men from the boys, the wheat from the chaff and Mason from everybody else.  This event is extremely serious and competitive, Jesse Burgoine has come out of international retirement to compete and Ed Ford has been getting massive[r] to give him the edge.  This is a ‘winner takes all’ regatta with the loser of each race being eliminated and the winner securing a route to the next round.  It is similar to a lesser known regatta down south called Henley, so if anyone has been to that they will know the rough layout. The event is light hearted and meant to be a day to enjoy.  It would be against the spirit of the club to have a sombre occasion, but respects must be paid to a tragic loss to our club.  So please come along and have as much fun as you can, but all the time remember who this is for and why we are hosting it.

The event costs £5 to enter which includes: entry, guaranteed selection for a crew in the ‘Princess Eugenie Cup’ and a chance to win.  There may be a super special prize for the winning crew, but in all honesty, the lifetime sense of achievement should be enough to spur most rowers on.  .

The crews will comprise of one senior man, one novice man and one senior and novice woman.  There will be some tampering to ensure that no one crew gets stacked with too many lightweights (we’d all know they’d win) and to make sure that Mason Durant gets knocked out first round (he’ll probably be ill anyway).

There will be a carbo-load dinner hosted the night before in the Copthorn Hotel called ‘The Annual Dinner’ so please make your way there and join us in the pre race build up.  Anyone who doesn’t want to race but wouldn’t mind helping out marshalling will be laughed at initially, but welcomed afterwards.  Lateness to the start is not permitted and anyone caught using the ‘place and drift’ tactic will be instantly disqualified and banned from all future regattas.

We look forward to seeing you on race day.

NUBC have retained the boat race crown they claimed from Durham last year as the 2010 race ends in a draw after another thrilling afternoon of rowing on the River Tyne on Sunday 9th May.

NUBC claimed comfortable victories in both Novice events and only narrowly lost by feet in both senior races to earn a well deserved draw this year and ensure the crown stays away from Durham for another year.

In an exciting curtain-raiser to the University races, a closely-contested showcase race between composite crews from schools in the Tyne and Wear areas was won by the Durham boat. Only a few inches separated the Durham and Newcastle boats as they crossed the finish line, with victory eventually being awarded to the Durham crew.

In the first University race of the afternoon, Newcastle’s novice women stormed ahead in the early stages of the race and never looked back, showing a ferocity and control of senior women to eventually win easily by five lengths; it was perhaps a sweet victory for the girls having just missed out on a place in the final at BUCS last weekend.
Not to be outdone by their female counterparts the novice men too won comfortably by a distance of two lengths after pushing hard in the closing stages of the race. This race once again proving their dominance over their Durham rivals this year having rowed through them at BUCS regatta last weekend, an event which eventually saw them miss out on the bronze medal by the narrowest of margins.
We now hope many of them will come and join the senior squad and help us crush Durham in 2011!

The Senior Women’s race was the first nail biter of the event with Durham eventually winning by 1/4 of a length. The crew, four of whom were novices only a year ago, performed out of their skin to get as close as they did to one of the top women’s crews in the country and having lost by a length at BUCS it shows there is a lot more to come this summer!

With the results standing at 2 – 1 to Newcastle, the Senior Men’s race was set up to be tense affair and on paper it was just as close as in reality. Having had to race with a sub at BUCS and eventually finishing a creditable fourth (one place and two lengths behind Durham) the crew were back up to full strength for this the main event.  Newcastle started well and lead coming out of the swing bridge into the final 500m. However Durham pushed hard to try and fight back drawing level just meters before the line before eventually scraping to victory by a foot in the last few strokes.
The disappointment was clear from the boys, who had picked up a lot of speed in the week since BUCS; but it was perhaps the culmination of a very hard season catching up with the boys, some of who had over 10 races last weekend. However they will surely be looking for redemption come Marlow and Henley, so watch this space for some explosive results if we are to draw Durham again this summer!

Newcastle University Boat Club’s President, Andrew Corrigan, said: “To lose such a close race is devastating. We set off ahead of Durham at the start of the race, so we were able to see them, and to be rowed through in the last few metres of the race is really painful”. However he added: “I’m very proud of the Freshwomen and Freshmen, who put in really great performances”.

The result shows how much progress Newcastle have made since the beginning of the boat race 14 years ago and although it wasn’t quite the result some of the squad new we were perhaps capable of it was job done in keeping the title out of Durham hands for a second year.

Whilst the rest of the sporting world lounged around at the annual AU ball, Newcastle was busting a gut to ensure they stayed in the top twenty sporting universities.  Whilst the rest of ‘Team Newcastle’ takes a more laissez faire approach to winning BUCS points, we realise their importance and ensure maximum success at the three events we have.

Following the triumph that was the BUCS Head in February, we grabbed every boat we could find, strapped it to a trailer and high tailed off to the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham.  The bank holiday weekend in May is always the time when all the Universities come together to race over 2,000 metres.  Yet every year we always forget just how horrible it is and just how far 2k feels when you’re rowing.  The weekend consists of every type of rowing discipline and first up was the men’s eights.  Seen as the most prestigious and coveted event, the championship eight were in with a good shout of upsetting the odds and grabbing a medal.  They were knocked back by a late illness to top sculler Andrew Corrigan who had crashed out of his championship singles heat despite being one of the favourites to win the event.  He subsequently pulled out of the eight that day to ensure his fitness returned for the majority of events in the following days.  Up stepped Edmund Mackenzie, a former novice turned Kenyan international (it’s not as good as it sounds) to fill the shoes of the President.  Unperturbed the Newcastle top eight were squeezed out into the repercharge (where all the men go to anyway) but managed to qualify for the final.  Knowing that on their day they had enough to grab a bronze they set off to the start with a resolute determination to claim a medal.  Unfortunately, an outstanding row from Queen’s Belfast, Oxford Brookes and Durham edged Newcastle into fourth which, whilst pleasing, is surely the most depressing place to finish in a race.  That, sadly, was one of the few highlights from an otherwise average start to the weekend. The men’s lightweight four looked slick in the repercharge but were unable to hold it together in the final, finishing fifth.  The Second eight, who had powered to silver at the BUCS head, limped out in the semi after their eight failed to fire.  Mark Bowers had a strong row in the Intermediate singles event, storming back from last place at halfway but was unable to grab a bronze, finishing in fourth.  The women’s scratch second quad claimed fifth place against tough competition.  Amy Jessett, our beginner sculler, had been looking for a fight all day and scared most of her opposition into going home early.  However, five hopefuls turned up for her final, four of which she subsequently destroyed, scaring one girl so much with her war cry that she sank.  She managed to grab silver and was so overwhelmed with excitement that she capsized and had to swim back to land…one for the future!

Sunday proved to be a day for revenge for NUBC.  Upset at the disappointment of the previous day the squads hit the ground running.  The novice men qualified second fastest in their division, the lightweight pair and women’s championship eight cruised through to their rep. And both men’s championship fours went straight to the final.  Fit again Andrew Corrigan dragged Mason Durant down the course to ensure a final appearance in the Championship Doubles.  The wind had really started to howl as the final’s ticked nearer.  First up was the Men’s Lightweight pair of Matt Mckibbin and Artjom Nepryahin who had barely trained all year.  They took the novel approach of seeking out arch rivals Durham, listening intently until their coach told them the race plan and then copying it exactly.  Bronze medal in the bag.  Next up was the women’s championship eights.  With half an eye on the northern boat race next week our girls stormed the course in an exceptionally quick time and grabbed the silver behind arch rivals Durham.  A superb result from the girls and it makes next week all the more interesting.  The Championship Double resulted in a bronze medal for Corrigan and Mason Durant which disappointed one of the members, the other just looking relieved that he’d finished the course.  Last up were the championship fours.  The coxless four of Murray Wilkojc, Mason Durant, Andrew Corrigan and Mark Bowers had qualified as one of the favourites.  However, earlier that day Mason had accidentally kicked a goose who sent out a message to nature to take revenge.  At the 700 metre mark, just as the boys were starting their ‘let’s push really hard n see what happens’ push, a swan came gliding out on a one swan revenge mission, crashing into the blades and throwing the rhythm.  Despite this catastrophe the boys managed to row strongly to escape with a silver, but they will forever think of the ‘what if’ scenario.  Pride was restored by the performance of the men’s coxed four.  Stroked by Ed Ford, coxed by Becky Palmer and powered along by Charles D’Oncieu, Tom Wright and Tim Clarke, the boat had looked world class all day.  The final was won by Newcastle in a rapid time and by a large distance.  The entire boat club screamed themselves hoarse when they crossed the finish line in first.  Ed Ford attempted a Usain Bolt style celebration and almost knocked himself out with his blade, and Charles smiled for the first time in living memory.  Truly a remarkable day.

Onto the Monday.  The weather had fortunately got worse so we were all excited to see how much carnage would occur. First up were the men’s pairs.  In all honesty this was probably the most glorious racing ever.  Freddy Beard and Edmund Mackenzie came within inches of qualifying for the final before Freddy, aggressive as ever, rammed the warwick crew in the next lane and promptly got disqualified.  Andy Hatzis powered his pair round from lane 3 to lane 6, surprising pairs partner Callum Fraser so much that they capsized and drifted over the line in fourth.  Tim Clarke and Tom Wright looked cool and calm as they powered their way to a gold medal proving that if you have 12ft of leg between you, you can probably beat most opponents.  The Novice women cruised into their semi final before race day nerves and extremely strong opposition knocked them out of their dream final.  It was an upsetting moment for the women who had looked strong all season but they will be back for the boat race in firing form.  The Women’s champ fours were looking like they could do some serious damage before illness struck again and forced the coxless four to scratch.  The coxed four, stroked by Eleanor Earp, powered to a hugely impressive bronze medal and further highlights the impressive renaissance of Newcastle’s women’s squad.  Then came the final races of the day.  Arguably the most exciting was the Championship Pairs.  Stroked by two time EUSA athlete, boat race winner, Henley winner, potential future president and full time triallist Murray Wilkojc, and with Mason Durant at bow the pair looked impressive on its way up to the start.  The final came around and they stormed the course.  With 100m’s to go they were a length down on Durham.  Murray glances over his shoulder, sees the distance and promptly threw the kitchen sink in.  Up stepped the rate and they started to gain.  Surely they’d run out of time? Not this day, through they went to win by half a foot.  Sadly, the performance could not be repeated against Queen’s Belfast in the Championship Quad as they were pipped into the silver.  The men’s Intermediate quad also raced into silver with an impressive performance.

The racing done we packed up, stole as many trestles as we could and returned to our home in the North, content with the damage we’d done and the dreams we’d shattered.  Next up comes the varsity Boat Race.  Watch this space.

The Newcastle Quad on the way to victory at February's BUCS Head

Now apparently Italians can row.  If we’re to believe what our coach Angelo says then Italian novice women regularly humiliate our scores on the ergo.  Fed up with losing to these mythical Italian super rowers, NUBC have decided to send a small touring party to check them out and see what the chat is about.  Whilst we’re there we’ve also entered ourselves in Memorial Paolo D’Aloja Regatta. Catchy right?

That’s right Blue Star faithful, we’ve decided to test our mettle on the International scene and are up against a whole mixture of Olympians, World champions and other such rowing paeans.  Confident that they won’t able to handle our pivot we’ve sent our four top scullers in a quad to try and break some dreams.  The quad, starring Ed ‘100% man’ Ford, Murray ‘the Technician’ Wilkojc, Andrew ‘the Power’ Corrigan and Mason ‘Sicknote’ Durant, have their sights fixed firmly on the final.  Make no bones about it; this race will be the toughest any of them have faced in their rowing careers.  They will face brutal heats, semis, reps and finals against some of the best rowers in the world.  However, we would not send them just to get beaten.  The quad has posted some seriously impressive times over the season, destroying the field by an embarrassing margin at the annual BUCS head.  With some training under their belts and a new sense of crew harmony they look like a crew who could do some serious damage to some Olympic egos.

The regatta is held in Piediluco near Rome on the 23-25th April.  Although it does cut close to the BUCS Regatta, the decision has been made to unleash them on the senior world in order to give them some hardcore race experience. They are going with realistic expectations of making the final and that, in itself, would be a fantastic achievement.

The rest of the squad turn towards BUCS and our fresh attempt at prying the Victor Ludorum off of Durham, what better way to start then having four of our very own Internationals racing with us.  Very best of luck to the four of them and results will be posted as soon as we know them.