The weekend of 1st-2nd June 2019 saw Peterborough Spring Regatta take place. Racing is available for all boat types over the weekend, with masters events being offered on the Sunday. The Regatta is a popular event, this weekend seeing 414 crews compete in 118 events.
Saturday
Saturday saw some Cantabs eights enjoy some competitive racing, with some useful lessons learned for the future.
The Senior Men’s Squad 8+ raced in the Band 1 event, winning their heat in dominant style, beating Peterborough, Auriol Kensington and Churchill College by clear water. In their final, they were locked into a close race with the University of East Anglia, the lead changing hands over the 1k course. With 100m to go, UEA were a canvas ahead, with Cantabs making a spring to finish, coming short by only 1 foot, but a length ahead of Cambridge 99 in a time of 3:04.
The Intermediate Men’s Squad 8+ raced in the Band 2 event, this being the first regatta race for many of the crew. They raced well in their heat, finishing 2nd to qualify for their final. In the final, they arced hard in a competitive field, which was ultimately won by Bristol University. After this first regatta, the Intermediate Squad will now turn their focus to Town Bumps preparation.
The Intermediate Women’s Squad 8+ raced together for the first time, enjoyed a close heat to qualify for the final, where they finished 4th.
Sunday
After Saturday’s glorious sunshine, Sunday’s weather was rather unsettled, with brief showers and a freshening wind that made conditions tricker as the day progressed, especially for the smaller boats.
However, crews from the Senior Women’s Squad were not put off by the conditions. The W.MasB.2x of Christina Woolner and Sue Hakenbeck produced a comfortable win in their event, 16s clear of 2nd placed Peterborough City. Lizzie Pratten also produced dominant performances in Women’s Band 1 1x, winning both her heat and the final with large margins. Despite having raced the previous day at the Metropolitan Regatta, a 4+ of Anita Holender, Clara Lloyd, Isabella Mahoney, Charlotte Anderson and cox Catherine Bowden took an early lead in the Women’s Band 1 4+, finishing almost 3 lengths clear of 2nd placed Warwick. There were also good performances from Gill Cooper and Judith Weik, a Masters D crew who finished 2nd in the non-masters W2- event.
There was some good racing for some of the Cantabs men’s squads in the masters events, with the Aquaphobes racing well in MasD.8+, finishing 2nd behind a Bedford-based composite crew. An Activ8 crew raced well in MasGH.4x, to finish 4th. Andrew Morley raced well in his heat of MasD.1x to qualify for the final, where he finished 3rd.
Full results can be found here.
If you’re interested in finding out more about any of our squads, please visit their pages in the ‘Squads’ section of our website or contact the men’s or women’s captain.
