Rutherford Head lived up to its reputation for providing cold weather competition as over 250 crews from as far afield as Cambridge, London and Aberdeen took to the Tyne on Saturday December 2nd in temperatures that remained below freezing point for much of the day.
With the north of England covered in a blanket of snow and boats frozen on trailers it was decided to reduce the length of the course from the advertised 4.5km by finishing short of Newburn Bridge to reduce the time spent by crews waiting to land.
14 entries (including 2 composites) from Durham ARC started, including 3 eights, 10 coxless quads and a coxless four. A successful day produced five wins, a total surpassed only by Newcastle University Boat Club with 6. The victories came from the Junior squad in two band 2 quad sculling events and from the Women’s Masters in two quad sculling races and an eight.
The large entry meant banding of crews in many events, including the Open eights in division 1 and Women’s eights in division 2, each with 50 entries.
WJ18 4x- band 2
Division 1
With the top crews from the elite Universities of Newcastle, Durham, Edinburgh and elsewhere occupying bands 1 and 2 DARC’s Senior Men were in band 3 of 6 for the Open 8+ and finished in 9th place (29th overall).
The Hexham/Durham composite Masters E coxless four was next to start and had to settle for second place against Tyne ARC.
Three crews from DARC contested the Women’s coxless quad, the Senior crew placing 4th, the Masters 5th and the Juniors 6th, all in the band 2 race, the Senior crew finishing only 1.5 seconds behind second placed Leeds University.
The best performance, and the first win of the day came from the J18 girls in winning band 2 of the WJ18 4x-, completing the course within 1 second of the band 1 winners from Aberdeen Schools, making them 2nd fastest of the 18 entries in the WJ18 4x- event.
The Masters E coxless quad placed 4th to Tees RC in a Masters EF handicap.
The Women’s Masters F 8+ had a close race against Tees RC who they beat by 1.3 seconds to claim the second victory of the day. Aberdeen Boat Club would have been in the same race but opted to row for time-only after changing their age category.
WMasF 8+
Division 2
The Masters E eight finished 4th to Tyne ARC in a MasEFG handicap
Two Open 4x- entries from DARC placed 3rd in band 1 behind Glasgow University and Agecroft/Leeds University, and 3rd in band 2 behind Leeds Rowing Club and City of Sunderland.
The Women’s Masters C coxless quad was victorious in a B/C handicap race against Hexham and Tyne United.
The second win in division 2 went to the Durham/York City Women’s Masters F 4x- composite who overcame crews from Aberdeen BC, Tyne ARC, Leeds RC and Tyne United.
The final victory came from the J16 boys who won band 2 of the J16 4x- against 5 other crews.
J16 4x- band 2
Summary of wins for DARC –
- WJ18 4x- band 2 Beattie 15 47.8
- WMasEF 8+ Lund F 17.34.5 *
- J16 4x- band 2 Lakey 13.30.1
- WMasC 4x- Harland 13.58.1
- WMasF 4x- Durham ARC/York City Lund 14.46.6
WMasC 4x-
Times recorded by DARC crews were as follows –
Division 1
- Open 8+ band 3 Negus 14.08.6
- MasE 4- Durham/Hexham Oates 15.41.5
- WJ18 4x- band 2 Beattie 15 47.8
- W 4x- band 2 Muskett 16.12.9
- W 4x- band 2 Ashton 16.41.8
- MasE 4x- McCarthy 16.49.9
- WMasF 8+ Lund F 17.34.5
- W 4x- band 2 Burns 18.12.1
Division 2
- Open 4x- band 1 Davison 12.52.3
- J16 4x- band 2 Lakey 13.30.1
- Open 4x- band 2 McCumiskey 13.33.7
- WMasC 4x- Harland 13.58.1
- MasE 8+ Matthews 14.30.1
- WMasF 4x- Durham/York Lund 14.46.6
Winning crews and times by event –
Division 1
- Open 8+ band 1 Newcastle University BC Jones 11.50.8
- Open 8+ band 2 Edinburgh Univ BC Howie 12.28.1
- Open 8+ band 3 Glasgow Univ BC Beeson 12.21.9
- Open 8+ band 4 Nottingham Univ Jimack 13.40.8
- Open 8+ band 5 Leeds University Davies 13.29.7
- Open 8+ band 6 Leeds University Tindall 14.18.9
- J18 8+ Aberdeen Schools/George Heriot’s School Tinch 14.12.9
- Women’s 4x- band 1 Newcastle Univ/Tyne ARC Youd 14.18.7
- Women’s 4x- band 2 Glasgow Univ Archer-Dytch 15.33.6
- Women’s 4x- band 3 Leeds RC Farquhar 16.21.8
- WJ18 4x- band 1 Aberdeen Schools Sinclair 15.47.1
- WJ18 4x- band 2 Durham ARC Beattie 15 47.8
- WJ16 4x- band 1 George Watson’s College Chambers 16.06.4
- WJ16 4x- band 2 Leeds RC Cole 17.37.4
- Women’s 4- band 1 NUBC Bates 15.22.4
- Women’s 4- band 2 NUBC Kemp 16.58.5
- Women’s 4+ band 1 Glasgow Univ Collins 15.55.6
- Women’s 4+ band 2 NUBC Webber 16.11.9
- Women’s 4+ band 3 Leeds RC Murphy 17.36.5
- WMasCD 8+ St Andrew BC Wallace D 16.23.8
- WMasEF 8+ Durham ARC Lund F 17.34.5 *
- MasE 4- Tyne ARC Robertson 15.05.2 *
- MasCD 4x- Talkin Tarn ARC Harte D 15.16.9
- MasEF 4x- Tees RC Leigh F 15.54.6
- MasGH 4x- Tees RC Kenyon H 16.17.0
Division 2
- Fastest crew Blue Star Alumni 8+ Hoppers 11.15.7
- Women’s 8+ band 1 Molesey BC Alliott 11.55.3
- Women’s 8+ band 2 Edinburgh Univ Hughson 12.14.9
- Women’s 8+ band 3 St Andrew BC Watt 13.22.2
- Women’s 8+ band 4 Nottingham Univ Frampton 12.57.9
- Women’s 8+ band 5 York Univ Barker 13.18.7
- Women’s 8+ band 6 Aberdeen BC Carr 13.49.3
- Open 4x- band 1 Glasgow Univ Waddell 12.00.8
- Open 4x- band 2 Leeds RC Keller 12.47.5
- Open 4+ band 1 Newcastle Univ Brockway 12.03.7
- Open 4+ band 2 Edinburgh Univ Howie 12.33.0
- Open 4+ band 3 Glasgow Univ McLachan 12.34.3
- Open 4+ band 4 Tyne United Gass 13.47.4
- Open 4- band 1 Edinburgh Univ Bone 12.22.6
- Open 4- band 2 Edinburgh Univ Milhench 12.41.8
- J18 4x- band 1 Yarm School Wildridge 12.24.2
- J18 4x- band 2 Aberdeen Schools Gundersen 12.33.2
- J16 4x- band 1 George Watson’s College Ferguson 12.06.7
- J16 4x- band 2 Durham ARC Lakey 13.30.1
- J16 4+ Aberdeen Schools Morrison 13.48.4
- MasD 8+ York City Fricker 12.34.0
- MasEFG 8+ Tyne ARC Judson G 13.24.3
- WMasBC 4x- Durham ARC Harland C 13.58.1
- WMasDF 4x- Durham ARC/York City Lund F14.46.6
- Open 8+ band 6 Collingwood College Osborne 13.04.0 *
(*) No specific prize awarded
Times for division 1 rowed against the tide are generally slower.
Full results for division 1 and division 2 are available on the Tyne ARC website and on Oar-online.
Photographs have been provided by SI Events and on facebook.
We are very grateful to the volunteers and host clubs who work so hard to make events possible.
That completes the racing calendar for 2023. Rutherford Head marks the start of the eights racing season which continues in the New Year as crews begin their preparations for the heads on the Tideway in March.