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
York's only success of the day came from the Senior IV Men, a good achievement considering the crew had never raced together before.
LUBC Men's Captain said: "It was a good day's racing. Although the results favour Lancaster the races were all close. On the York river you would have won."
Lancaster won the some of their races convincingly, especially during the Senior IV Women's race where they won by over 3 lengths.
Much closer was the last race of the day, Senior VIII Men, where York managed to overtake a leading Lancaster before running out of steam and losing by a length. Crew member Dane Moore explained: "We were winning until a wide line took us out of the stream. We did our pushes too early."
UYBC President Gillian Tongue was furious when the club found out that the finishing line was at an angle across the river, a fact which she believes should have been made clear to them at the start of the races rather than after all the competitive races had finished.
She said: "There are positives the club can take from the senior races, that bode well for the season. However, the inconsistency of the umpiring put a sour note on the day. Also, the reason the exhibition races were so one-sided was because Lancaster put their top boat athletes in their fresher boat. Very unsporting."
Some York rowers also believed they were in possession of a picture showing York had won one of the closest fought races of the day, Novice IV Men, but the win was awarded to Lancaster.
Furthermore, many York rowers were unhappy with the treatment they received from the marshalls who complained that the crews failed to make it to the starting line on time, despite not being told the time they were expected to be there.
Despite the rowers' complaints, the fact remains that AU President Jo Carter, who attended the event, will be painfully aware that York will go in the main Roses weekend with a 12 points deficit.
Its a shame we'll be heading into Roses weekend with a points deficit but it seems York were a bit unlucky today, especially with the officiating.
This is unsurprising what with it being held in Lancaster, there's a reason why it has proved so difficult for either uni to win away at Roses in the past.
Good luck to everyone next weekend.
Totally agree.
Despite the poor officiating the Lancaster peeps deserve some credit: their men squad at least was really sound today, gracious in victory.
I think they realised it could of gone the other way...shame it didn't.
would agree with two. the lancaster athletes were very professional and with no insult meant to our crew they rowed a better race than us. we can hardly tar the rowers with any criticism of the officials. all credit to the opposition.
1. The quote from the men's captain is not by the LUBC men's captain.
2. The finish line was from the finish marshal on the side to the sign marked FINISH in capital letters. If you take a picture from another angle then it doesn't really count. It was clearly marked
3. The entire Lancaster University Women's squad are novices, with 7 of them being freshers. So they were eligible for the freshers race.
Both crews did some great racing and it is a great shame to tarnish it by saying bad things about the races. The races were won and lost respectably by the rowers. Let's keep it that way.
Re:#5
The question over the Lancaster women racing in the freshers race was that the same crew which raced against York seniors raced against the York freshers, they may have been freshers at lancaster, but they were certainly not 'freshers' in rowing. It simply seemed unsportsmanly and not in the spirit of the freshers event. The Lancaster women were very impressive and completely deserved to win, but perhaps they were in the wrong race.
Actually the girls who raced in the fresher 4 and the senior 4 were all in their first year of rowing. 7 of the 8 girls are.
It is interesting hearing a lancastrian (I assume that comment 5 and 7 are from a red rose) where the finish line was. On the day I heard it was from the bin on the left of the boat house to the finish post. I am not saying that I am right, I very much doubt I am right, rather it just goes to show there was a lack of communication on the day.
I do not believe that anyone from York thinks that knowing where the finish line was would have made a difference to the results, and none of the above comments (bar the photo, lol!) are attempting to imply that.
There is a lot of respect for the lancastrian outfit, a least amongst the York men's squad. Good luck for the rest of the season.
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report