On Saturday the 18th of November, a 19 strong squad from DUBC headed to Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility for the annual indoor championships. With some big names attending straight from GB trials, it was set to be a strong day of racing.
First up saw the Fresher men taking to the ergs, with Oliver Bohle (pictured centre) smashing his heat coming in first with Alistair Bonnsal, Henri Greenbaum and Ruaraidh Simpson showing some strong performances too. After nervously watching the second heat take place, it was confirmed Oliver had got the first win of the day by 4 seconds, a perfect start to the day!
Next saw the fresher girls, a strong first heat saw Fiona Lapp coming in first followed by Natalie Troy, Lizzie Briggs and Shannon Polston. Heat 2 saw some strong competition from Edinburgh, pushing Fiona back to a still very respectable 6th place overall whilst Merryn Thomson stayed strong throughout earning herself 9th place.
Amy Gilmour took to the erg next for the lightweight women, which was followed by the University open heavyweight women. Heat 1 saw Eleanor Brinkhoff first past the post followed by Hannah Campbell in second, both achieving well-earned PBs. Katie Fisher managed to achieve her aim of sub 8 minute with Ellie Gkika close behind. Despite some great racing, heat 2 saw some very fast 2Ks pushing the girls out of podium position, but a great effort none the less!
The lightweight men saw Steffan Jones set to represent DUBC, not quite a PB but determination to beat it in the upcoming season. The final individual events saw Oliver Bohle and Callum Banks take on the 500m sprint, a close race from the off with Oliver managing to pull slightly ahead taking Bronze, his second medal of the day. Katie Canniford took on the women’s 500m sprint, keeping a low split seeing her into third place with Dundee’s third medal of the day.
Finally, we had the team sprints with the fresher women going first. With a lot of encouragement from the sidelines, they kept up the pace coming 4th place.
The last race of the day saw the Senior women take on the 3K challenge. With some slick changeovers and a low split, the girls tussled between 2nd, 3rd and 4th place throughout, managing to pull away in 3rd at the end.
A great day of racing with some fantastic times pulled throughout and several new PBs topping it off with three podium appearances! Back out on the water for now, looking towards Glasgow head this coming weekend and hoping to continue the season with some more strong racing.