Wallingford Regatta saw the first side-by-side racing of the season, with Cantabs coming home with wins in 2 events – the Women’s Club 8+ and Women’s Club 4+.
The Senior Women’s Squad sent 6 crews, with some athletes doubling up across the day, and came away with wins in the Women’s Club 8+ and Women’s Club 4+. The 8+ saw the first win of the day, with the crew winning their heat comfortably, before winning the final. Half of this crew doubled up later on, with a quicker-than-they’d-have-liked turnaround between the final of the 8+ and heat of the Women’s Club 4- which saw them finish 2nd to Worcester RC in both the heat and the final after only 3 outings together.
3 crews raced in sculling events, with ChiYing Chen competing in the Women’s Challenge 1x. Maria Stroyakovski and Evelyn Svingen raced well as lightweights in an openweight field of the Women’s Challenge 2x, narrowly missing out on a place in the final. They then raced again with Rosa Mueller and Gemma Douglas in the Women’s Challenge 4x, racing well but narrowly missing out on the final.
There were entries in eights for the men’s crews in competitive fields, with the Senior Men racing well in a scratch combination in the Challenge 8+ and the Hills Boys proud of their performance in the Schools 8+, though unfortunately not making it through to the finals.
The Women’s Club 4+ was a new combination which had only had 3 outings together, and surpassed their expectations by qualifying as the 2nd fastest crew into the final. They raced well in the final, finishing narrowly behind Thames RC, who went on to be disqualified for racing with a different crew to that entered, handing the Cantabs crew the win.
