August Regatta Roundup

Cantabs has toured the region’s regattas in August following the bumps, mainly with the junior squad, but with a few older rowers also enjoying the fun of racing and, in many cases, winning. The club is very grateful to Phil Gunning who has devoted so much time to organising, towing the trailer, supervising the juniors, writing up their successes and being an all-round hero!

Imogen with the WJ14 1X trohpy

Imogen with the WJ14 1X trohpy

Sudbury International Regatta on 2nd August saw 10 juniors and 2 senior men racing across a number of boat and age categories on a lovely sunny day. Cantabs were successful in the WJ14 1X (Imogen Forbes), WJ18 2X (May Perrin & Amelia Moss) and Nov 2X (Phil Gunning & Oli Frazer).

 

The next weekend saw 18 juniors and 8 senior women competing at Peterborough Summer Regatta. A lovely sunny day on Saturday was followed by a very wet and very windy Sunday as the remnants of Hurricane Bertha brought very changeable weather, including a thunderstorm which delayed racing. The club gazebo provided very welcome shelter, although it took  rather a battering. Success on the Sunday was achieved by the senior women in the IM2 VIII’s and by the J18 girls in the Nov 4x-, losing their novice sculling status.

W.IM2.8+ Winners

W.IM2.8+ Winners: Sue, Gill, Steph, Emma, Becca, Judith, Ailsa, Ellie & Robert. (Photo: Tom Stroud)

The weekend of 16/17th August was spent at Oxford Royal Regatta, with 15 juniors taking part, along with the Novice men and Will and Hadi. There were wins by the Mas A/B Nov 4+ of Sherden Timmins, Phil Gunning, Gareth Simons and Ruben Penalva coxed by Lindsey Tate, the IM3 2X of Will Reverchon and Hadi Boukhatmi and the WJ14 2X of Imogen Forbes and Peony Bracey. The regatta afforded the junior squad the chance to socialise whilst camping overnight, ready to embark on a full day of racing on Sunday. Whilst there were many creditable races by the squad, Cantabs unfortunately only came away with one win on the Sunday, which was Rachel Stratford in the WJ12 1X. This was a fantastic result or her, as she had only ever been in a single scull twice before her win in the semi-final. To cap off the August regattas, Cantabs took 22 juniors to Lea Regatta on 31st August. The fine weather, along with a very friendly atmosphere made for a very enjoyable event. Cantabs had a couple of swimmers in the early races on the day, with Ana having an ejector crab on hitting the barge moored at the finish line, so unfortunately not winning that heat, followed by the WIM3 double of Alice and Lilith hitting the same barge whilst in the lead and flipping the boat. Luckily the dunking did not affect Lilith who then jumped in the IM2 quad in the next division to win the semi-final.

W.IM3.4X winners: Freya, Laura, Lilith, Eve

W.IM2.4X winners: Freya, Laura, Lilith, Eve

Cantabs had a number of wins, with at one stage a trio of back to back wins. The singles of Rachel Stratford (J12 1X), Freya Sutcliffe (WJ14 1x – racing an age up) and May Perrin (WJ16 1X) each won, with May’s final being the closest of the whole day with the final verdict being a win by 3 ft. The Hills Road girls’ coxless quad of Freya Clarke Coetzee, Lilith Scott, Laura Warwick, Eve Beere won WIM2 4X easily, with exhibition rowing past the spectators at the finish, whilst Freya Clarke Coetzee and Laura Warwick were able to avenge the earlier mishap of Lilith and Alice by winning WIM3 2X. The Hills Road boys Novice crew (Robbie Neal, Angus Beauchamp, Sam Juniper, Max Davison, Matt Haynes (cox)) were victorious in the Nov 4+ event.

Happy winners at Lea Regatta

Happy winners at Lea Regatta

The junior squad is now planning for the September events, with a 2-day fun camp this week, followed by the logistical challenge of 55 juniors taking part in 32 crews at the Nines regatta!

 

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