Saturday 3rd August saw a wide selection of Cantabs crews race at the 139th Sudbury Regatta, coming away with 8 wins and several course records. With crews ranging from the youngest juniors, up to the senior crews, it was a great chance for everyone to get some summer racing in on the beautiful stretch of the Stour that runs through the picturesque countryside around Sudbury.
After a long season of national races and hard training, topped off by some exceptional performances in Town Bumps, Sudbury’s 650m stretch of river with its famous bend and idiosyncrasies provided a nice change and a more relaxed opportunity to win some tankards. With the opposition ranging from beginners to national medallists, Sudbury always supplies great racing and makes for a good spectacle from the bank, especially around the difficult bend!
A composite Mixed 8+ with Chesterton RC raced well, winning their final against a confident Lea crew by a canvas, having dispatched Gravesend and another Lea crew in earlier rounds. They won in a time of 1:04, only 2 seconds slower than the winning Men’s 8+.
It was a good day for Cantabs’ youngest juniors, with Gabriel Holt and William Keatley winning the J13.2x and William Woodard and Oscar Coppins winning J15.2x. William went on to make the final of the J15.1x. Charlotte Parr, Lia Spiegel-Emmerich, Lola Coppins, Jasmine Pellegrini and Lucy Friedlander winning W.J15.4x+.
There was also some good racing for the older juniors, with the W.J18.2x making their final, and Zara Parr and Robert Almqvist winning the senior Mixed 2x event in a new course record.
For the senior crews, there were some good sculling performances, especially for those who are more used to sweep rowing. Noah Tate and Dave Meredith won the NOV.2x, James Lindsay won the NOV.1x, and Evelyn Svingen won the women’s equivalent. ChiYing Chen, in her first race for Cantabs after joining this summer, went on to win her first ever race in a 1x, in the Women’s Band 2 1x. James, ChiYing and Evelyn also set new course records in their events.
There were also good performances from a Band 1 4+ who made their final, and Jack Goode who made the final of the Band 1 1x.
J18 coach Oli Frazer said,
It was a great day for all, with lots of close racing and lots of pots. It’s always pleasing as a coach to see the younger juniors winning and knowing you have lots of potential coming through the junior programme.
Full results are available here.
