On the 4th of May, MUBC headed down to Holme Pierre Point, Nottingham to race to BUCs regatta! Here’s how we got on!
Saturday
On Saturday, we had a huge variety of crews going out, both Novice and Senior, with the novice’s getting their first taste of side by side racing!
Headed out for their time trials in the morning, we had Novice Men 4+ A and B, Novice Women 8+ A and B, Senior Women 4x and 2- and Senior 8+ A and B.
The Novice Women 8+ A had an exciting time trial and managed to secure an A/B semi final, with the B boat also scoring an impressive C final! The 8+ A ultimately went on to secure 2nd in the B final and the 8+ B 5th in the C final, a huge achievement for the girls and their brilliant coxes, Sophia and Ed. These 8+s have had a great season and we can’t wait to see them flourish in our senior squads next year!
The Novice Men 4+ A qualified for an E final, which they later managed to secure 2nd place in a gutsy performance from the boys, Charlie, Josh, Joe and Jack, in their first ever regatta race! The 4+ B qualified just outside a final, taking 40th place in a competitive category. Dan, Alex, Neerav and Finlay rowed well as a crew and were gutted to miss out, as they looked toward their 8+ the following day
The Senior Women had both the 4x and the 2- out today. Despite only having had a couple of sessions together, the 4x had a strong time trial, coming 30th out of 49th and securing themselves a spot in the E final. After had a good start, Evie, Jesse, Lily and Grace battled until the end against some very competitive crews, and only managed 6th place, but still put in a great row and looked strong as a crew. The 2- qualified for a D final after a very windy time trial early in the morning. Amaris and Grace have both worked incredibly hard in this boat, putting in extra training, which ultimately paid off as they crossed the line in 3rd place!
The Senior Men had their 8+ out today. They’ve worked exceptionally hard in these crews this year, giving the 8+s the focus of their training schedule for the majority of the season. After the time trials, the 8+ A qualified in to take a place in the E final whilst the 8+ B qualified in 37th place, missing out on a final by just 1 place. As put by their captain, Gus Elliott, the fastest non finalist is a tough pill to swallow, but if anything it’s shows how the depth of the squad has grown significantly over the passed two years and that the men have only been taking steps in the right direction. Our final event of the day was the E final for the 8+ A. The goal was to race the underdog race, going off strong and trying to hold off the competition. A blinding start saw them holding onto 3rd place all the way until 600m to go, coxed to perfection by Kate Theobald, before the rest of the field stepped on for the finish and they narrowly placed 6th. An honourable mention to our president Darioush Jalili, as he raced in his last ever race for MUBC!
Sunday
Another busy day of racing today, with many athletes gearing up for their second race of the weekend!
Sunday saw the Novice Women’s 4+ and 4x, Novice Men 8+, Senior Women 8+ and Senior Men 4+ A and B heading out to the lake!
The Novice Women had another sublime time trial, securing an A/B semi final in the 4+ and a D final in the 4x! After a challenging semi final and even tougher final, the 4+ finished in 5th place in the B final. Abbie, Meg, Casja and Kat put everything into their race and securing 11th best crew on the day is a reflection of how hard they’ve worked throughout their novice season. The self proclaimed ‘ginger quad’ headed into the D final later in the afternoon. After only learning to scull on Easter Camp a month prior, they put in a sterling performance, and found 6th place in their D final.
The Novice Men 8+, coxed by Jenny Stoodley, had a stunning time trial, and qualified into a C final! After some of the boys missing out on a final the day previously, they were thrilled to have secured some side by side racing, and a C final is an incredible achievement! After battling hard, they clinched 4th place in their final, making them the 16th best crew on the day. A super achievement for the Novice Men and a fabulous way to end their novice season! We cannot wait to watch them build on their success as they move into the Senior Men’s squad next year!
The Senior Women 8+ raced a brilliant time trial, securing an F final for later that afternoon. Coxed by Sophia Yeung, the girls stepped out in what would be one of the closest finals of the weekend! The girls gave it absolutely everything in a fiercely competitive race, and secured 2nd place, just 0.01s behind the winning crew! An immensely impressive race from the girls!
The Senior Men had two crews heading out on Sunday. With both crews heading up to the start line together, the 4+ A found themselves being chased down the time trial by what would later be the gold medal winning crew. This spurred them on to qualify at the top of the E final. The 4+ B, Joe, James, Matt and Jamie, put their all into it and proved their incredible racing mindset, but came away just outside of the finals. As the 4+ A headed up to their start line, Jake, Bob, Toby and Viktor knew it would be a very close race as all 6 crews in the E final qualified within 2s of each other, and blinding start and leading the pack for the first 250m, they couldn’t quite hold on, and finished in 6th place.
Monday
A slightly quieter day today, with just 4 crews headed out. Monday saw the Senior Women’s 4+ A and B take to the water, along side a Senior Women 2x and the Novice Women 2x.
With some of the girls getting ready for their third race of the weekend, the Senior Women 4+ A and B put everything into their time trials, with the 4+ A managed to scrape through to an F final in an extremely competitive category, and the 4+B not quite qualifying for a final as they placed 56th. The Senior Women 2x, Grace and Lily, also put in a big performance, but also fell just short of reaching a final, placing 53rd. The afternoon saw the Senior Women 4+ A, Grace, Evie, Ella and Amaris, headed out for their final race of the weekend, with Evie’s final race ever at MUBC, and through an incredibly strong performance, they bagged 5th place in a tight final.
Last to race this weekend was the Novice Women 2x, Kat and Scarlett. They qualified into the D final, and as the supported saw them coming down the lake, they were dominating the race! Pulling further away in the last 500m, they seized 1st place, putting 10.5s between themselves and the crew in 2nd place. They closed out the weekend in style – well done girls!
All of our crews put everything into this weekend, but it is hard to relay months of training into a 1.5k time trial. After a turbulent year at MUBC with the passing of our coach, our athletes have really stepped up, with many taking on coach responsibilities, bank supporting sessions, and hopping into the coxes seat to make sure that training can go ahead. MUBC is, and always will be, about community, forging new friendships, and igniting passion for the sport, and BUCs weekend is not only about the results, but it’s a time to celebrate all our hard work over the season. As some of our athletes move on and leave university, whilst others have had an amazing first season, they have all contributed to help grow MUBC to what it is today!
