RICHMOND, B.C. – On a beautiful day at the John M.S. Lecky UBC Boathouse, the Thunderbirds played host to the Victoria Vikes for the 22nd annual Brown Cup, a 3.5-kilometre head-to-head race, held on the north and middle arm of the Fraser River.

In an exciting race the UBC varsity men rowed through some challenging conditions to claim their fifth Brown Cup win. Despite the sunny day, strong currents, head winds and waves, made for challenging conditions as the crews raced away from the start line situated off the western tip of Mitchell Island under the Canada Line Bridge. Both crews struck off to an aggressive and dramatic start looking for the early advantage and within the first ten strokes experienced some significant blade clashing causing UBC captain Evan Cheng to briefly lose his seat while Victoria's bow and three seat lost their oars before quickly regaining control. The umpire eventually reacted to get the crews apart as they worked to find their early rhythm. UBC managed to pull forward for a length advantage coming into the long Morey Channel turn, and UBC coxswain Mark Goudie was warned for pushing his line as he tried to make the port side turn. UBC was able to move out to an open water lead on the Vikes and cross the line in a time of 9:45.73, 6.05 seconds up on UVic's 9:51.8.

It was a significant win for the Thunderbirds giving the team a winning record on the ever-tough Vikes since UBC's first Brown Cup win in 2005. UBC's crew was: cox Mark Goudie, Graeme Blaskovich, Robert Gage, Alex Janzen, Maxwell Lattimer, Evan Cheng, Valentin Dunsing, Ben Coull and Angus Todd.

The UBC varsity women entered the race with high expectations having handily defeated the Vikes one month ago at the Elk Lake Spring regatta. However the Vikes got away to an early lead and settled into a steady rhythm. While the Thunderbirds fought hard and stayed within striking distance of the visiting boat through out much of the race, it was not enough to push their bow ball ahead and claim the win. UBC's crew was cox: Molly Lai, Julie Sheppard, Teena Schneider, Zoe Fettig-Winn, Amelie Schumacher, Hillary Janssens, Lia Hart, Katherine Enns, and Martha Smith.

In the Reserves Race UBC's junior varsity women flew to an outstanding victory and achieved the largest winning margin of the day with a 12.77-second win over the Vikes. UBC's junior varsity men expected a tight race and true to expectations they got it, covering the entire course just ahead of the Vikes. But coming into the last 1000m, Victoria steadily found their momentum and used it to drive through the T-Birds for a 4.62 second win.

Next up for UBC is the San Diego Crew Classic where UBC will face top IRA and NCAA crews including California, Stanford, Kansas State and Miami among many others.