Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
The weekend was viewed as a great success for the club, whose members had up until that point failed to find consistency in their competitive events this term.
The racecourse at Peterborough is a 1000m man-made lake with four lanes of racing, similar to the lakes used in the Olympics. The competing crews progressed through each round by finishing either first or second in their race.
The Senior women’s squad got the weekend off to a good start on Saturday by winning the Senior 4 coxed four event in style(Senior 1 being the highest category). They won both their heat and semi-final, before completely out-rowing their rivals in the final, winning by more than a boat length. Unfortunately, the same success could not be achieved when the women later raced in the harder Senior 3 category. Although progressing through their heat by finishing second, the four finished last in the next round, failing to reach the final.
Harriet Edmonds, by way of explanation, said: “It’s been hard that one of the crew members took time off for finals. People don’t understand how often we train. Missing one crew member for a week made it harder for us.”
The Senior men improved on the women’s success by winning three of the five events they entered. Men’s Captain Ben Knowles won his Senior 3 single scull event, having won his heat and semi-final. Although behind off the start in each round, Knowles managed to row past his opposition in all of his races to be the first to cross the finish line. Moreover, this was achieved using a boat Knowles had borrowed on the morning of the race.
Another success was the Senior men's four, who won their Senior 4 coxed four event, winning their heat and semi-final before dominating the final.
Crew member John Kendrick said: “It’s so good, because we didn’t just win, we won well”. The other win came in the Senior 4 eights, where the eight won due to a no-show from the other finalist, Cambridge City.
The results were seen as a positive build up to Henley Royal Regatta, which takes place later in the summer. Both the men and women are trying to qualify for the regatta, with the men having only qualified twice in the last eight years and the women having never qualified. Harriet Edmonds added: “We are worried. We are going to have to train mega hard over the next two weeks!”
By Oliver Ward
