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The Inter College Competition is held annually between the Universities four colleges, Eliot, Rutherford, Darwin and Keynes. It consists of three separate days of racing, one in the Autumn term, one in the Spring term and one in the Summer term. They are organised by the Novice Coordinator.

The Intercollegiate in the Autumn term takes the form of the Novice Head, one of the most important dates in the Kent Rowing Calendar. The Novice Head is strictly for Novices, as the new intake of rowers battle it out to take the Novice Head crown for their college following ten weeks of training.

The next two Intercollegiate races are open to all members of the club, and despite being sandwiched between training, they take up a key role in the club calender. The Spring and Summer Intercollegiate races are a much more relaxed (but still competative) day of races compared to the prestigious Novice Head, but when college pride is at stake, everyone pushes that bit extra. Each Intercollegiate features a Men's race, Women's race, Mixed race (two women and two men) and a Coxes race.

Inter College Competition 2009/2010

Novice Head
Plucks, Sunday 13th December 2009

The much anticipated 2009 Novice Head lived up to it's hype with an exciting day of racing which saw Keynes Women A and Darwin Men B victorious. This year's Novice Head has seen much interest, and for the first time Novices were treated to teaser videos in the weeks leading up to the race to wet their appetites. For those who missed the videos, you can view them here and here.

So the race itself. This year's Novice Head saw some impressive racing from the Kent Rowing Novices, with a total of fifteen crews entered from the four colleges. Frustratingly, the race had to be shortened from 650metres to just 450metres due to the tree still taking up half the river at the gas pipeline corner.

The men's category saw contrasting results in the quad and sweep race. The Darwin A crew grabbed victory in the Men's Quad race winning by four seconds with 1:54, but in the Sweep race could only clock a lowly 2:37 and last place. In the same sweep race, the Eliot A crew set a blistering pace to take home victory in 1:26, but in the Quad, could only muster a dissapointing 2:31. It was the Darwin B crew who took the overall men's title, with Simon Bridle, Simon Da Silva, Daivd Moore, Morgan Robbins and their cox Dave Weildon who showed that rowing consistantly well in both boats will always victor over crews that specialise in one boat. They finished second in both races with times of 1:47 in the sweep and 1:58 in the quad, with an overall time of 3:45, and fully deserved their victory. Congratulations to the guys.

The women's races saw a similar pattern to the men's races. The Rutherford A crew set an absolutely phenomonal time of 1:28 in the quad, the second fastest time of ANY crew all day. Had it not been for a frustrating 2:40 row in the sweep, they would have surely looked good to take the women's crown. It was the sweep race that won it for the winning Keynes Women A crew, with a stunning 1:35 making up for a fourth place 2:13 time they achieved in the quad. The crew, Anja Jahnkow, Georgina Stevenson, Sarah Moseley and Naomi Trowbridge, coxed by James Findon prooved that training really pays off, with their committment earning them Novice Head victory. Congratulations to the girls.

The Bow Ball was a fantastic night to crown off the term, and both crews were understandably delighted to take home their medals. The night saw an rousing speech by Novice Coordinator James Findon, and what can only be described as an 'emotional' speech by Club Chairman James Cooper. A big thanks must go to Social Secretary Chloe Marshall for tirelessly organising the event and ensuring it was night to remember for all of the club's members.

The Intercollege Competition will resume in March with the March Intercollegiate with Eliot and Keynes leading the race for the Intercollege Cup with fourteen points, and Darwin and Rutherford sharing third with eight points each. The March Intercollegiate sees Seniors and Novice join forces in each college to bring home the Inter College Cup points!

Novice Head 2009 - Full Results