Regatta season kicked off in style with BUCS. The Beginners had a baptism of fire being thrown right in with intense multi lane racing. After calming the nerves, they performed well on Saturday with two crews making it to the A/B semis. The Women’s 8+ (A) had the best result of the day by coming 9th. The Men’s 4x also did very well in a tough field. Then on Monday some braved the challenge of small boats and raced in doubles where they outperformed some of their competition simply by staying dry and not capsizing. Particular well done to Nick and Travis for improving their finishing place from their time trial position. A feat that was achieved only 5 times over the weekend!
The Senior’s got straight back into the swing of regatta season and it was like they’d never stopped! The Men’s 8+ smashed their time trial coming an impressive 13th, breaking the club’s record for Men’s 8+s. Although, painfully, just 0.1 seconds off a B final, something that will definitely push them on in training in future weeks! They successfully backed this up with an admirable effort in a tough C final. The Women’s 8+ (A) did their best to copy the men and also managed to make their way into the C final where they also finished a respectable 17th place. The Women’s 8+ (B) fought hard in a category filled with Intermediate club’s 1st 8s and managed to improve on their time trial result and finish 29th.
The best was saved till last, and Monday really got the adrenaline flowing. An incredible time trial result and semi final meant that Rosanna and Sophie secured an A final! This master class was nearly achieved by the lightweight pair of Jamie and Connor as well who now may genuinely deserve the title of the Kiwi Pair. There was a resilient effort from the Women’s 4+ who, despite their ‘Granny’ start, dug deep and stayed competitive through a difficult race. The day was rounded off perfectly by the Men’s 4x whose sculling turned heads and sprint to the line reminded everyone why we stick around in winter.
It was an enjoyable weekend for the Club and has shown that hard work at Easter camps has paid off. Overall, it was a good start to regatta season and hopefully some pots will follow soon!