BUCS Head saw NTUBC send three crews over to the notoriously harsh 5km Tyne stretch in Newcastle. This year it was evident the field of competitors across all categories was at its most competitive. Our senior women were looking to lay down a good marker in preparation for WEHORR and our Senior Men were looking to build upon their success in a time trial against UoNBC.

Starting the day our Senior Women’ s 8+ got on the water, keen to show what they could do. With a strong cross head wind to start and fighting the stream they settled into their race rhythm fast, closing the distance between them and UCL’s ‘A’ boat, before overtaking them on the second bend. With the wind pushing the women around they fought to keep a steady rate through the second half of the race before crossing the line with a time of 18:12.0 putting them 22nd out of 36.

In the early afternoon, It was then time for our Senior Men's 8+ to take to the water. Winds at this point where starting to pick up and after an anxiously long wait our senior men went off hard and fast chasing down UCL’s ‘B’ boat. The fast start backed up by a strong, clean rhythm in the middle section of the race saw our men crawl away from University of Edinburgh 'A' boat. After the final bend, our Cox for the day Joe Elliot had been whipping us with his words from the first stroke then called for a final sprint which resulted in a 6th place finish out of 43 in a time of 14:13.6. only 5 seconds off a medal-winning 3rd which goes to show the small margins and quality of the days racing.

To finish off the day our Senior Women’s 4x stormed down the course. With a powerful push off the start they found a good pace in the middle section resulting in them overtaking Southampton University. With Reading University on their heels the girls maintained a tidy rhythm through the choppy conditions, fighting with every stroke. As they came on to the final straight the women sprinted for the line finishing in 6th place in a time of 17:25.8 only 0.3 seconds behind 5th place.