Rowing Success
KCBC M1 racing at Torpids © Gareth Ardron
Lewis Anderson (2019 DPhil Atomic and Laser Physics), KCBC President, writes:
Michaelmas term racing kicked off at Nepthys regatta with Keble College Boat Club (KCBC) competing in a side-by-side knockout tournament against crews entered from the majority of Oxford colleges. In the senior Men’s and Women’s Eights events, both KCBC crews won all of their races to go through to the final and claim the win in their respective events. Thanks to a successful novice recruitment drive, Keble’s Men’s and Women’s novice eights also put in strong performances to beat a number of other crews and help us to take the overall regatta win.
This success carried on into Hilary term where Keble travelled down the Thames to compete at Henley Fours and Eights Head. Keble entered four crews with our top crews recording good times along the 3km course to claim second place in their respective Men’s Eights and Women’s Fours events. In addition to beating a number of university and city crews, these were the best performances by any Oxford college entered.
W2 bumped each day to win Torpids blades
The term’s racing concluded at Torpids—the first of two big bumps events of the year. Torpids saw three men's and, for the first time in Keble's history, three women's boats competing over the four days. Top performances came from the W2 who, with a crew including a number of novice recruits, bumped each day to win blades. The W1 who, after four exciting races in division 1, bumped twice to finish fifth on the river, were unfortunate to be denied a third bump by a klaxon on the final day of racing. And finally the M1 who, after also bumping each day to win blades, finished sixth on the river—their highest position since 1989. All other crews put in strong performances with the W3 going +2 for the week, the M3 going +2 and the M2 finishing at -3 but with heads held high. After a jubilant Torpids Dinner the squad are back training hard.
Bring on Summer VIIIs!
Come and cheer the crews along at Summer VIIIs, and join us at the KRS Dinner on Saturday 27 May. You can buy your ticket here.
