The weekend of 11th and 12th May saw two regattas take place at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham. Cantabs sent crews from their Intermediate and Senior Women’s Squads, as well as the J18 Performance Squad, having the highest number of entries of all clubs on the Saturday and the highest number of wins of all clubs on the Sunday.
Saturday – Nottingham City Regatta
The Saturday saw many crews race together for the first time, with others doing their first regatta in a sculling boat.
Debs Oakley did well in her first multi-lane in a single to make the final of the W.Band1.1x in a field of much more experienced scullers. Georgie Plunkett raced in a packed W.LWT.1x event, winning her heat and racing well in a tight final where she finished 3rd.
There was a Cantabs 1-2 in the W4x event, which saw a Senior Women’s crew beat a Cantabs J18 crew into 2nd place by just 2 seconds. The afternoon saw a second Senior combination race and win W.Band2.4x, 13 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
The J18s raced well in other events, finishing 2nd in the final of W.J18.2- and 3rd in J18.1x. They were also awarded prizes for the W.J18.8+, after they raced against a senior Thames W8+ because their opposition from Latymer failed to turn up to the start.
There was also some close racing in sweep boats, with Jack Mason coxing Anita Holender, Clara Lloyd, Isabella Mahoney and Martha McCarey through some exciting battles to finish 2nd and 3rd behind some strong Thames crews in the W4+.
Sunday – Nottingham Club & Masters Regatta
The Sunday regatta takes place over a shorter 1k course, and incorporates masters events. Cantabs entered a mixture of masters and non-masters crews, and came away with 10 wins – the highest number of wins of all clubs entered – and some very close 2nd place finishes.
The day saw Evelyn Svingen and Sue Hakenbeck racing their first ever regatta in single sculls. Both raced well and finished 2nd in the W.Band3.1x and W.MasC.1x events, respectively. Georgie Plunkett had her second day of racing, and enjoyed emphatic victories in W.Band1.1x and W.MasA.1x.
There were also double victories for Ann Laube and Ellie Darlington, who won W.Band1.2x and W.MasA.2x, producing much more consistent performances on the Sunday than the Saturday. Lizzie Pratten and Liv Hamilton raced well in W.Band2.2x, coming from being 1L down with 300m to go to row through the 2nd placed crew to win by 4 seconds.
Gill Cooper and Judith Weik added to an excellent head season, which saw them win at Pairs Head, Vet Fours Head and Vets Head, by winning their first regatta of 2019 in W.MasD.2-.
In bigger boats, Catherine Bowden coxed Isabella Mahoney, Jamie Fox, Lucinda Douse and Evelyn Svingen through a thrilling race in W.Band1.4+ which saw leads change and them finish only 0.7s behind the winning crew, after only 1 outing together as a crew.
There was further quad success to add to yesterday’s performances, with Eve Caroe and Valentina Sassow teaming up with Lizzie and Liv after their 2x win earlier in the day, to finish 5 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed crew in W.Band1.4x. There was also a masters win for Cecile Auty-Jacklin, Roz FitzGerald, Jacqui Robinson and Syra Vanderhoof, who comfortably won the W.MasE.4x event.
Thank you to Jon Winch for towing, and to Chris Radbone for the photographs.
