A strong performance at Oxford City Royal Regatta (1km on 20 August) and Oxford City Sprint (500m on 21 August) saw Cantabs crews come away with plenty of pots, as well as some very new racing experience for some!
The Senior Men’s Squad were victorious in 7 of the 10 events they entered, with draws often seeing them race and beat unlucky Putney Town crews in the final. On the Saturday, the IM2.8+ of Guy Fiddian, Finn Grimwood, James King, Charlie Cummins, Ricardo Herreros-Symons, Callan Swanson, Damien Chamley, Andrew Marsden and cox Steph Payne won their event convincingly, before going on to win the 350m sprint 8+ event over the lunch break.
The winning IM2.8+
This crew then split into smaller boats, with Guy, Finn, Andrew, Damien and Steph also victorious in the IM2.4+. 3/5 of the entries in the IM2.2- event were Cantabs, and saw Ricci and Callan reach a final against James and Charlie, who had been victorious in the same event at Peterborough the weekend before. Trailing slightly in the closing stages of the race, a picture speaks a thousand words:
Ricci and Callan making a detour in the IM2.2- final
Cantabs sculling boats were also out in force over the weekend, with a Senior Men’s 2x of Matt Crowe and Hadi Boukhatmi winning the IM3 event. Bailee Stratton of the Senior Women’s Squad entered her first 2x races with Alex Courage.
Matt & Hadi rowing to the start of their IM3.2x race
Also on their first ever sculling race was a 4x+ of coxes deciding to take on the rowing world. Laura Brightman, Katrina Purser, Sara Russo and Amy Henfrey were coxed by junior rower Zara Parr on the Saturday morning. Although knocked out in the first round, they are looking forward to their next race this weekend at the Cambridge Regatta. Katrina Purser, who has only recently taken up coxing, said: “The experience, whilst great fun, is allowing us to be physically active and get fit on the river alongside our crews. It’s led to a number of coxing calls suddenly making so much more sense – now I don’t just shout it, I know what it means!”
The coxes’ 4x+ in action
Laura and Amy also competed in the W.NOV.2x event but unsurprisingly came up against experienced (and larger!) opponents on both days of the regatta.
Finally, Cantabs entered the mixed 8+ sprint, hoping to defend their 2015 title in the event. As with 2015, the crew faced City of Oxford in the first round. However, this year it came with a twist, with ex-Cantabs club captain Joe Baddeley featuring in the 7-seat of the City of Oxford crew. James, Damien, Finn, Guy, Bailee and Alex were joined by Ellie Darlington and Joe’s girlfriend, Charlotte Richer, and silenced the trash talk by winning their opening race by a convincing margin! The crew went on to beat a Putney Town crew and a Wolfson College crew in the final to come away with the trophy.
The mixed 8+ racing to victory against Wolfson
