We continue our HRR highlights series with the first ever Bath University eight to compete at HRR in the Thames Cup in 1994!
"We came together surprisingly quickly and won Senior 1 at Hereford at the end of May, beating T
hames RC in the final. Tougher opposition followed at Reading and Marlow. We took the difficult decision to enter the slightly tougher Thames Cup (then still open to student crews) rather than the Temple due to one of the crew being a post-doc and ineligible for the Temple. The crew was ably coached by Pete Proudley, who had amongst many honours overseen the women's 2- at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
The qualification race went very well and we came off the water convinced we'd done enough. However, no sooner was the boat on the rack in the Boat Tent, when a deluge of biblical proportions swept over the course, inundating many crews still waiting to race. Given these unprecedented conditions for around half of the crews, the Stewards decided the only fair course of action was to call everyone back on the following morning to race again.
Despite a nervous 24 hours, we duly qualified and were drawn to race Durham University.
Poorly-timed university examinations gave little opportunity for preparation on the course, and a very experienced Durham outfit triumphed by 3 lengths at 7pm on the Wednesday. It was a fine evening and there was still a decent crowd present. Later that week we reconvened for a well-deserved meal out in Henley. No pictures survive from later that evening!
Bow: Steve Travis
2: John Golding
3: Jon Roberts
4: Carl Nicholson
5: Mark Lightowler
6: Guy Blanchard
7: James Bate
Str: Theo Hudson
Cox: Carolyn Sleath"
Steve Travis (Men's Captain 1993-4), Class of 1995