exec & committee 20/21 and covid-19 - presidents statement

First of all, I would like to welcome all the newly elected exec and committe, I am looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together next year. As well as this I would like to say thank you to all the outgoing exec, it is a shame that the season was cut short.

Even though COVID-19 has led to the separation of our athletes, DUBC continues to stay strong. Everyone is managing to train hard at home in preparation for the 20/21 season. Personally, I am excited to see what we can do together next year.

The alumni club, 1877, have recently started an “Around the world in 30 days” challenge in order to fundraise for Mind and the Durham Foodbank. The goal is to accumulate 40,075km of mileage in any way possible and aims to keep people ‘training together’ while apart. The countdown can be found on the 1877 website and there is a Justgiving page coming soon.

The boat club wishes everyone the best in these difficult times,

Jake Lane – DUBC President

The Club would like to invite all alumni to celebrate what promises to be a successful run at WeHORR & HORR and the culmination of what has so far been a very successful head season, with 7 medals being won at BUCS head. Every member of the men’s first and second eights won a medal and every member of the women’s first eight won two medals! Highlights include winning the men’s championship quads, and a bronze medal in the women’s championship eights.

If you would like to attend please RSVP via email to myself at: danielweatherly97@gmail.com.

Tickets for alumni are £87, please get in touch for payment details.

Kind regards,

Daniel Weatherly – DUBC Alumni Officer

BUCS Head 2020 Preparations President’s Report

BUCS Head, the universities’ winter race along the Tyne River in Newcastle, is set to be a stormy event; both the competition and wind will be stiff. Durham University Boat Club has been building towards this event with much anticipation, coming off the back of a very successful Christmas training camp in Seville.

The DUBC Women’s Squad will be fielding 2 VIIIs, with the same athletes doubling up into a coxless four, a coxed four and 3 quads later in the day. Their 1st VIII recently beat Newcastle at Tyne New Year’s head and will be looking to repeat the same feat and win a medal this weekend.

The Men’s Squad has entered 2 quads and 2 fours, the athletes of which will be joined by another 8 to race 3 VIIIs in the afternoon. With a tough field including Newcastle, Imperial, Edinburgh and many others they will be fighting tooth and nail for every second to vie for medals this weekend.

DUBC is also very proud to be entering 2 VIIIs and 2 quads from the Development Squad. After only taking the sport up at the start of the year, they will hope to add to the well-established tradition of DUBC Development Squad medalling at BUCS events.

The Boat Club has been uniformly performing at an extremely high level in training so far this season and is primed to deliver excellent performances across the board this weekend, despite the weather.

Division 1

In the first division, the Men’s Squad put out 3 VIIIs ranking 3rd, 10th and 15th overall; a massive step on from last year and a fantastic start to the season of VIIIs racing. Similarly, the Women’s Squad took 4th in the 4- (band 1), 1st in the 4x (band 2), and 1st in the 4+ (band 3) overtaking 5 crews over the 4.5km course. With only a brief 45 minute turn around between divisions, the athletes pressed on to the 2nd Division.

Division 2

The Development Squad arrived brimming with energy to support DUBC in the second division. With a race already in their legs, the two Women’s VIIIs took 1st and 3rd (band 2). Out of our 3 Men’s coxed fours, 2 of them took 1st place in band 2 and 3, while the men’s 4x placed 3rd (band 1). The top Men’s VIII broke down into 2 coxless fours, placing 2nd (band 2) and 1st (band 1, 3rd fastest overall).

Summary

As a practice run for BUCS Head, which will be run on the same course on 22nd February 2020, the club delivered encouraging results all round. With our Winter Training Camp in Seville just over 3 weeks away, the club is ready to step on so we can deliver increasingly better performances throughout next term and on to Henley at the end of the year.

Another promising performance from Magnus Burgess-Smith and Ed Gardiner in their new pair combination, coming across the line only 24 seconds shy of last year’s U23 World Championship medalists, alumni Oscar Lindsay and partner Will Stewart.

Great to see many of our alumni there in both a competitor and coaching capacity:

Ryan Todhunter, Matt Rossiter, Angus Groom, Will Fletcher, Ben Rich, James Vogel, Oscar Lindsay, Sam Tuck, Lauren Irwin, Amy Polglase, Helena Barton, Ros Wilson, Becky Dell

DUBC was also well represented at BUCS Small Boat Head on the Sunday, with many of our developing athletes taking to the water, unfazed by the high level of competition.

Sincerely,

Magnus Burgess-Smith DUBC President