The Erne Eights Head of the River 2026 is taking place this Saturday, 7th of March with the Men’s Race starting at 2pm.
UCD Boat Club started the Head season with a solid performance at Neptune Head, bringing home the Senior VIII’s, the Senior 2-‘s and the Women’s Intermediate VIII’s pennants. Conditions were surprisingly good on the 4km course for both heads, with the second Head having just slightly slower conditions. In the 1st Head, the club was involved in a Senior UCD/Old Collegians composite VIII which included International oarsmen Sean Jacob and James Wall and finished 1st after starting behind Neptune RC. The club also fielded a student Senior 4+ which came home in 2nd place in their category, losing the pennant to Garda BC who were coxless. In addition, the club had 2 Intermediate VIIIs competing in both Heads which finished in 2nd & 3rd place overall in their category, losing out to a very quick Galway crew. The lightweight combination of UCD Sports Scholarship student Anthony English and Colm Pierce also performed well to win the Senior 2- category, despite not having much opportunity to train in the combination.
With the UCD/OC composite having set the standard to beat in the 1st Head, the club’s student Senior 8 went out determined to prove they could better the composite’s performance in the 2nd Head. Again UCD started behind Neptune, however in a solid performance they had taken the lead by the bridge and finished the course in 11.58, the only crew of the day to break 12 minutes.
Overall results: 1st: UCD, 2nd: UCD/OC 3rd: Neptune RC.