On the 1st of June the ULBC squad raced at the Metropolitan Regatta, hosted at Dorney lake.

In the final test of speed before camp, Henley women’s and Marlow, the squad had some great success and learned some tough racing lessons. Most notably, the men’s championship coxed four and women’s academic eight both returned home with gold medals in their events.

The women’s squad raced both eights, with the A boat in championship and B boat in academic. After a thrid place time trial placing, the women’s first had a great race in the A final, placing 5th overall. The academic eight also had a great race, and beat Newcastle and Durham to bring home the academic pennant, retaining the title for UL for another year.

The men’s squad entered the championship coxed four, a championship eight, and an academic coxed four. The championship coxed four won the final having placed second in the time trial to Thames, bringing home UL’s second gold medal of the day. The championship eight placed 9th in the time trial, qualifying for the B final, in which they came 4th. The men’s coxed academic four placed 21st in the time trial, and after their final placed 2nd in the academic placement behind a strong Cambridge crew made up of 2024 goldie athletes.

On Saturday, the women’s coxless four, double and novice coxed four also raced in the time trial only, owing to schedule clashes between races and the trailer leaving for the club camp in Brive, France. The coxless four came 29th, the double 12th, and the novice four came 24th.

Next up is ULBC camp to Brive-la-Gaillarde, where we return for the second year in a row to prepare for Henley women’s, Marlow, and Henley Royal regattas.