Old Blades and the Ball 2014

71 competitors at Old Blades, 121 rowers coming to the ball, 3 new trophies, 13 new blazers and many many many beers...

Shit tomorrow is gonna be good

Varsity 2014

For the first time in 5 years...

DMURC WON VARSITY!!!

Lemme give you the breakdown...

Senior Women's 4+
DMU got ULBC off the line and pretty much held it all the way to the finish.
Both crews looking pretty good over the line but De Montfort held off Uni for a 5 length victory.

Fresher Girls 8+
A fast start from Leicester saw them leap in front to begin with. DMU fought back to gain clear water up to the second red bridge. An unlucky crab from DMU gave Uni a chance to nip by and they took a 1/2 length victory.

Fresher Boys 8+
After some clashing and a re start Leicester Uni got in front with DMU hot on their tails. There was some more contact with the umpires yelling to stop but unfortunately in all the confusion DMU rowed ahead and crossed the line with an extremely comfortable margin, only to be disqualified for not stopping after the clash.
Unlucky but that's why we have umpires.

Fresher Girls 4+
Leicester, for a second year running, had an equipment failure in the fresher girls 4+ (they need to take a look at their boats before hand methinks). After postponing the race it didn't work out well for them anyway as DMU stormed through for a hefty 7 length victory.

Fresher Boys 4+
A classy looking boys 4+ shot out of the blocks and held Uni all the way through the course. Leicester were behind by only 1 1/2 lengths but caught a crab sending them into the bank under the second red bridge. DMU rowed home for an 'easily' victory.

Senior Women's 8+
Both crews battled it out over the varsity course but DMU managed to ease away in the final stages to win by 1 1/4 lengths.

Senior Men's 8+
DMU put out a stronger crew that had the ULBC guys from the start. They rowed home to an extremely comfortable 8 length victory. Great work.

Senior Men’s 4+

Surrender monkeys forfeited the race after their stroke man decided he'd rather race with a different club that day... they couldn't find another replacement apparently, he must have been 'really' good

Mixed 8+
Surrender monkeys forfeited the race after they realised the domination was all too much

To be fair there was a lot of good will from Leicester Uni all day and they've had some troubles to cope with this year through SU issues, hopefully the racing next year will be good close fought racing.
DMU have got an incredibly strong club and managed to use that to their advantage and secured a great 7-2 win.

Record entry!

This year a whopping 21 crews with 72 people have signed up to smash it down the river Soar on 5th April.
A good contingent of that remains old boys and girls who have mustered strength in their maturity to give the current club a run for it's money.

Rob Fox has managed to get together two 4+'s to compete in The President's Goblets. Guys who now have their own sproglets (who you might be able to hear shouting for their daddies down the course) who haven't rowed since graduation will battle to win the new trophies that will appear this year.

The new club blazers will also make an appearance on the weekend, you might see Jordan strutting down the embankment with a wry smile on his face as he wears my bloody blood sweat and tears across his shoulders (it's been a 3 year nightmare to get it organised)

Old blades who have also signed up for the Ball in the evening:
Caitlin "DP forever... dirty girl" Bloom
❤ Bob "The chest" Fairclough ❤
Dan "Gravy" Johnstone
Jack "One up the bum no harm done army boy" Bowden
Ryan "Deep booming voice" Davies
Mark "Freshers will definitely drink from my chest" Cooper
Rob "Threesome - you hero" Janeiro
Tammy "Gym status" Crain
Joe "I'm sure you all call me a lot of things" Brunton
Becca "Got naked at Peterborough 1" Cox
Kate "Got naked at Peterborough 2" Martin
Emma "Got naked at Peterborough 3" Rockall
Demi "O'Neill fetish" Johnson
Cat "Tideway fetish" Maude
Tom "Head of hair" Catnach
Rosie "Stop making fun of Dan" Kirk
James "London boy" Beddows
Anna "London girl" Wallis
Andy "Spreadsheet" Capewell
Ell "Does a great tour of Batman's mansion" Ryder
Matt "She doesn't even go here" Hamlyn
Sophie "Wye-aye pet" Richardson
Meg "Rows more now shes not at Uni" Andrews
Rachael "Wow Phil, your Dyson is huuuuge" East
Phil "Let my hoover suck you " Reilly