BUCS regatta took place over the Bank holiday weekend, from the 29th April to the 1st of May. ULBC came home with 8 medals overall after an exciting and eventful weekend of racing. The women won gold in championship coxless fours, a silver in championship eights, a bronze in championship coxed fours, and a bronze in the intermediate coxed fours. The men, struggling with illness across the weekend, brought home a gold in men’s intermediate eights for the first time in UL history (the first int8+ gold being the W8+ in 2021), a silver in championship coxed fours, a bronze in the championship pair and a bronze in intermediate coxed fours.

 

Overall, it was a very successful start to regatta season for the squad, with incredible support from the banks fully enhancing what is a first UL regatta experience for many of the squad. As Ferdi Robson (inter 8+) put it in a BUCS interview: “It’s the best club in the world… No place I’d rather be”.

 

Racing details:

Men’s eights:

A third place in the time trial (by under 2 seconds) saw the UL men’s first eight sent through to the repechage. Struggling with illness in the crew, they still won the rep comfortably over Edinburgh to earn their place in the A final. Unfortunately racing whilst ill finally caught up with a member of the crew, and this eight was scratched from racing the final. The ULBC 2nd eight were crowned intermediate eight champions (below) after a phenomenal day of racing. First in the time trial by 5 seconds saw them through to the A/B semis, where they raced to a comfortable third-place finish to qualify for the A final. A tight race against two Brookes crews saw the UL crew finishing on top, 2 seconds on the pack. The ULBC 3rd eight also raced intermediate eights. This UL ‘B’ crew placed 7th in the time trial, 3rd in their semi, and a strong 6th in the A final.

Women’s eights:

Having placed 2nd in the Championship eights time trial by 0.9s, the UL women’s first eight raced the repechage, which they dominated from early on, crossing the line at rate 24. In the final, the UL and Brookes women shot out in front of the field. Despite best efforts (and fully throwing in the kitchen sink), the UL crew came home in 2nd place (above), 15s ahead of Durham in third. The 2nd eight raced intermediate eights, placing 6th in a tight TT which saw them through to the A/B semis. A second place in the semi saw them safely into the A final, in which they placed 5th, a couple of seconds off a medal.

 

Men’s fours:

The champ 4+ crew (containing two of the 2021 PA winning crew) started their Sunday off well with a 2nd place time trial finish qualifying them for the A final. The final saw a close race with Durham down the track for 2nd and 3rd places, with the UL crew extending their margin as the race went on, coming home with silver medals. We also entered two crews into the inter 4+ event. The time trial saw UL ‘A’ place 2nd, with UL ‘B’ 8th, qualifying both for the A/B semis. 2nd in the semi saw UL ‘A’ through to the A final, and a 4th in the semi saw the ‘B’ crew through to the B final. The B crew won the B final comfortably, placing a respectable 7th overall. The A crew raced a tough race, with a fast first half seeing them first through the 1000m mark, however the 1.2s margin was not enough to hold off Brookes crews, and the UL crew placed a solid 3rd overall.

 

Women’s fours:

Having won the TT by 6s, the women’s championship 4- qualified for the A final. In an even more impressive race that saw clear water by the 250m mark, this crew dominated the final to win by 14s over Cambridge. The other half of the first eight raced the championship 4+, coming third in the A final behind Durham and Cambridge. ULBC also fielded an intermediate 4+, which brought home bronze medals behind a strong Cambridge crew and Bristol’s top four.

Men’s Championship Pair:

A 2nd place in the time trial saw this pair of Tom Cross/Josh Burke qualify straight into the A final alongside a Durham crew. They placed 2nd in the final after a strong race, coming home with their second medals each of the weekend.

^ the Sunday medalists (MCh2-, WCh4-, WCh4+, WInt4+)

UL also fielded a lightweight intermediate women’s single (8th), a women’s inter quad (22nd), and entered a men’s championship quad, which had to be scratched due to illness

 

Overall a successful weekend for the squad!

 

Gold:

• WCh4-
• MInt8+

 

Silver:

• WCh8+
• MCh2-
• MCh4+

 

Bronze:

• WCh4+
• WInt4+

Watch the racing here:

Watch day 1 HERE (Men’s Eights and Women’s Quad)

Watch day 2 HERE (Women’s Eights, LW single, Men’s Fours)

Watch day 3 HERE (Women’s Fours, Men’s Pair and Quad)