HORR & VHORR 2019

The Head of the River Race (HORR), and, to a similar extent, the veterans version (VHORR), is undoubtedly the biggest Head race on the racing calendar. City of Sheffield had 4 boats descending on the River Thames to compete over the two races this year. All crews were looking to put in top performances at the national event, building on good form that had been shown at the previous head races. This comprised of one men's 8+ on the Saturday, a WMas8+, Mx8+ and Mas4x- on the Sunday.

The men finished 150th out a field of 301 in a time of 20:02.1. This was a best place finish for Sheffield's men in the last decade. A performance to proud of considering that 6 weeks before there had been no plan to row at HORR. Not wanting to disrupt any of the other crews the men's 4- teamed up with 4 of the clubs, now recreational rowers, and captain Cat McDougall (cox) to form this scratch crew that trained 3 times prior to race, with only one outing containing the race crew.

On the Sunday, the women's maters 8+ were looking to back up wins at both Boston and Nottingham heads in the E-G category. A technically strong row saw the crew finish in a time 24:05.05 that placed them 154/249 overall and an impressive 3/14 in their category missing the top spot by only 30 seconds.

The men's 4- teamed up four members of the women's squad battling it out to compete in the 4+ at Women's Henley this summer. They competed in the mixed A-C category coming 106th overall with a finish time of 23:02.46, with Alex Wright steering a near perfect line in what was her first time steering the tideway.

The men's masters quad looked to build on a strong head season in B-D category. A finish time of 24:16.02 saw the quad finish 165th overall. This results shows the good boat speed that these guys can generate beating a huge number of people competing in the bigger 8's.