A good start is a huge advantage in two-boat races, and UCD filled the bill admirably as they won the senior men’s and women’s Colours Races on the Liffey on Saturday.

Trinity were favourites in the Gannon Cup for senior men, but UCD were a driven crew. In very difficult, bobbly, conditions, they got the jump at the start and held off the men in black and white down the course to win by a length and a third.

The UCD advantage in the Corcoran Cup for senior women was very visible: they were a bigger and more powerful crew, and they dominated the race, extending their early quarter-length lead to over a length as they came out from under Capel Street Bridge. They had just under 20 seconds to spare at the end.

The woman in the number seven seat was winning her sixth Corcoran Cup – five for UCD and one for Trinity. Siofra Bennett, a final year medical student, is just 24.

The UCD women's novice crew carried off the Sally Moorhead trophy in a fashion nobody wished for: the stroke woman in the Trinity crew caught a boat-stopping crab before the crews even reached the Ha'penny Bridge.

Trinity's one win, in the Dan Quinn Shield for novice men, was an emphatic one. The crew in white rowed long and strong, dominating and winning on a verdict of 'easily'. Again, it was a good start which gave them the platform for victory.

The prohibition on cyclists worked well, but the bus service provided for spectators had a major blip for the senior race, with many parents and fans completely missing the start.

COLOURS RACES 2016 (O’Connell Bridge to St James’s Gate)

Men - Senior (Gannon Cup): UCD (E Gleeson, D Somers, T Hughes, A Griffin, E O’Connor, M Murphy, S Mulvaney, D O’Malley; cox: O Reid) bt Trinity 1 1/3 l . Novice (Dan Quinn Shield): Trinity bt UCD, easily.

Women – Senior (Corcoran Cup): UCD (D Callanan, J Coleman, A O’Riordan, E Lambe, O Finnegan, R Gilligan, S Bennett, K O’Connor; cox: J Gilligan) bt Trinity a distance. Novice (Sally Moorhead Trophy): UCD bt Trinity easily.