On Saturday 6th August, a large Cantabs contingent headed to the Sudbury International Regatta for some summer racing. The 650m course (350m for eights) is famed for it’s bend which gives spectators plenty to watch with many crashes and near-misses occurring throughout the day!
Hipflasks for winning the Mixed 8+ event
The senior men’s squad sent two pairs and a coxed four. Hadi Boukhatmi, Mark Lawrence, Guy Fiddian, Ed Oughton and cox Steph Payne dispatched a crew from Medway Town RC within the first few strokes after their opposition crashed into the bank off the start. They went on to beat a Cambridge 99 crew in the semi final. Boasting on the start line that they’d never been beaten by Cantabs before, a Newark/London/Quintin/Earith composite then had the pleasure of experiencing something new when the Cantabs crew beat them by 1-1/4L!
When the four later split into two, the pairs of Mark and Guy, and Ed and Hadi became victims of Sudbury’s bend, though in different circumstances. A bit of a steering mishap saw Hadi and Ed make friends with the bank a couple of times down the course, handing victory to a Maidstone Invicta crew. Matt Crowe experienced a similar fate: after beating Medway Town and Maidstone Invicta scullers with easily verdicts in the opening stages, he then crashed a couple of times in the final, losing out to a Cambridge 99 sculler.
The winning W.IM3.4+ crew
Mark and Guy were particularly unlucky, after they and their Cambridge 99 opponents veered off course in the first few strokes, crashing into each other and prompting a restart. Unfortunately, it was only after the race restarted that Mark realised that his rudder had been jammed on in the collision, which meant he and Guy crashed into the bank after the first few strokes. Chapeau to Nines who declined the award of an illustrious British Rowing sweep point for their victory!
The senior women’s squad had better luck, with a W.IM3.4+ crew of May Perrin, Eve Caroe, Kate Willis, Rosie Robinson and cox Beth Collett beating Cambridge 99 in the final by 1L. May and Rosie then went on to win the W.J18.2x event.
There was also good racing from the junior squad, with Roisin Scanlon beating an Isle of Ely sculler in her first competitive 1x race in the W.J12 category. Afterwards Roisin said, “I was very worried as I have only been in a single scull four times and knew how good the Isle of Ely rower is after she won at Blenheim. I’m really happy to get my first win!”
The W.J14.4x+ narrowly losing in the final
Additionally, a number of Cantabs crews also reached the finals in their events including a W.J14A.2x, W.J14.4x+, a mixed masters C/D/E 8+ and Phil Gunning in the MasE.1x. Additionally, after learning the hard way in her W.MasA.1x final that taking the first half of the course gingerly at rate 26 to avoid crashing is not the recipe for success, Ellie Darlington was called upon as a last minute substitute into a college composite mixed 8+ along with cox Steph Payne. The scratch crew beat St Neots in the quarter finals by 3L over the 350m course, eventually going on to beat a Broxbourne/Molesey/TSS composite to win the event.
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