As the excitement of bumps was fading, twenty-six Cantabs crews headed to Sudbury on Saturday 1st August to enjoy some traditional regatta fun, complete with home-baked cakes, burgers, hog roast and ice creams!
The 650m course at Sudbury is raced upstream from a stake boat start along a course characterised by some “challenging bends” – which not infrequently result in crashes and capsizes among uncoxed boats! The sprint eights event takes place along the last 350m of the course.
The day was warm and fairly sunny, so the smart new Cantabs gazebo (provided courtesy of the 5050 fund) provided welcome shade, and acted as a great focal point for the Cantabs rowers and supporters. Phil’s early arrival on site meant that he bagged prime position for the trailers, making boating as convenient as possible.
The day saw plenty of friendly interaction with other local clubs and it was great to hear the Cambridge clubs supporting each other…until they were in direct competition of course! In the informal atmosphere, Cantabs provided subs into a couple of city crews, and Robert Nimmo picked up an extra race, coxing a composite crew of umpires in their race against a Sudbury VIII.
Highlights of the day included a wonderfully close J13A.2x race, that the comentator declared as “best race of the day” where Max and Onur raced with great determination to finish just one foot behind their Maidstone Invicta rivals.
Cantabs notched up lots of race wins and by the end of the day were celebrating event wins in the following (crew members listed in no particular order):
MasC.4+: Peter Brooks, Tamas Vlasits, William Schafer, David Trickey, Sam Masterson (c)
Mx.Eli.8+: James Quarrington, Callan Swanson, James Price, Finn Grimwood, Krysia Waterhouse, Millie Perrin, Claire Nichols, Georgina Plunkett, Robert Nimmo (c)
W.J15A.4x+: Imogen Forbes, Jessica Norman, Roisin Screaton, Tabitha Thornton-Swan, Ellie Wicks (c)
W.Nov.1x: Millie Perrin
Mx.Nov.2x: Millie Perrin and Finn Grimwood
Mx.IM3.2x: May Perrin and James O’Dell
Thanks to Phil for towing the trailer and organising the junior racing, as ever, and to the other coaches, parents, helpers and supporters, as well as to Sudbury for providing a great day out!
A few of the happy winners are shown below (click on the images to see larger versions). More photos of Cantabs crews can be seen on the Cantabs Facebook page; general photos from the regatta are also available.
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- W.J15A.4x+ in front of the Cantabs gazebo with the mayor of Sudbury.
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- Mixed VIII receiving their hip-flasks from the mayor of Sudbury.
