The year that was… university rowing

Highlights range from World Rowing’s Filippi Spirit Award being attributed to an Olympic rower who is also a medical student, to gender equality being implemented at the World University Rowing Championships, to university rowing crews from around the world meeting up to race in China.

Filippi Spirit Award

Winner in 2016… Nils Jakob Hoff (NOR), medical student at the University of Bergen. The details here. 
Special achievements… Self-proclaimed fat kid who turned his body around. Member of Norway’s Olympic team and World Champion. Founder of Medical Rowing Club at Bergen University.
Award Ceremony… 2017 World Rowing Cup II in Poznan, Poland, here. 
Video of Filippi Spirit Award ceremony, here. 
Number of Filippi Spirit Awardees to date… 4 (here). 

2017 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Races

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Men’s Boat Race first held in…1829
Women’s Boat Race first held in… 1927
Men’s and Women’s Boat Races combined in…2015
Winner of 2017 Men’s Boat Race…Oxford
Winning time of men’s race…16min 59sec
Winner of 2017 Women’s Boat Race…Cambridge
Winning time of women’s race…18min 34sec
Heaviest men’s crew of 2017…Cambridge, with an average of 93.5kg
Heaviest male rower in 2017…James Letten (USA) at 106.5 kg
Heaviest women’s crew in 2017…Cambridge, with an average of 74kg
Heaviest female rower in 2017…Ashton Brown (CAN) at 82kg.
Overall record for Men’s Boat Race…82-80 in favour of Cambridge
Overall record for Women’s Boat Race…42-30 in favour of Cambridge
Website…here
2017 Detailed Race Report….here

2017 Videos

Crew weigh-in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfiriPfu6MI
Live-Stream re-play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbUzjQRUIUs
Men’s Race https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe0XEJui63A
Women’s Race https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z0HG1G_JHI

World University Rowing Championships

Gender reform for 2018… the World University Rowing Championships adopted a fully gender-equal programme, details here. 
Number of events now at World University Rowing Championships… Eight events for men and eight for women: 1x, 2x, 2-, 4-, 8+, L1x, L2x, L4-.
Where and when in 2018? Shanghai, China, from 10 to 12 August 2018.

BUCS Regatta (Great Britain)

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Claim to fame: Largest student regatta in Europe…. The annual British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Regatta.

Number of institutions participating in 2017… 72
Number of events on programme… 48
Winner of overall 2017 BUCS Regatta… Oxford Brookes University
Strongest University in men’s events… Oxford Brookes University
Strongest University in women’s events… University of London
Number of consecutive years that Oxford Brookes University won the championship men’s eight… four
Where and when in 2017? Nottingham National Water Sports Centre, 29 April-1 May 2017
Further information about 2017 edition here. 
Videos from 2017 https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bucs+rowing+regatta+2017
Detailed 2017 Results here. 
Photos from 2017 here. 
Where and when in 2018? Nottingham National Water Sports Centre, 5-7 May 2018
Website… www.bucs.org.uk

What is the NCAA …The National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States of America.
When rowing was included… Women’s rowing was included in 1997. Men’s rowing is not on the programme.
Winning university of the 2017 NCAA Rowing Championships… University of Washington.
Rowing events won by the University of Washington in 2017… the varsity eight, the second varsity eight and the varsity fours.
Leading university overall since inclusion of rowing on the NCAA championship programme… Brown University
Website… here. 

Also in the United States
The largest collegiate rowing regatta is the Dad Vail Regatta with over 100 universities and colleges competing.
Raced … in May
Overall winner … Drexel University
Regatta cut short … due to rain
More information… https://www.dadvail.org

IRA, Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta (USA)
National Champions in the men’s heavyweight categories… Yale University
National Champions in the men’s lightweight categories… Cornell University
National Champions in the women’s lightweight categories… Stanford University
Closest Grand Final… Men’s Varsity Heavyweight final. Yale won six hundredths of a second ahead of Washington University to win gold. Princeton University took bronze.
University with the most overall points and winners of the James Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy… University of Washington
More information: www.irarowing.com  

Japan’s University Boat Race

Name of Japan’s Boat Race… The Regatta
Universities involved in The Regatta … Waseda and Keio
Number of editions so far… 86
Location of race…. Sumida River in the heart of Tokyo’s main sight-seeing district.
Racing distance… Women: 1000m, Men: 3750m
More information…here.  

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Number of editions so far… 8
Location of regatta… Chengdu, China
International crews in attendance… Harvard, Yale, Melbourne, Sydney, London, Oxford, Otago
Top crews in 2017… Otago (New Zealand) and Cambridge (Great Britain)
Further information… here.  
Video… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN1IzbELeXo