BUCS Regatta 2022

This weekend saw the boat club attend the 3-day long BUCS Regatta, a highlight of our season and a chance for us to show how the hard winter training has paid off. The regatta started with the last weeks wind and cloud fading way to leave a beautifully calm lake and our 32 crews prepped for the long weekend ahead. The Saturday saw a big day for our women’s squad and novice Squad. The women’s intermediate 2- placed 3rd in the time trial putting them into a prime position for the rest of the day. After winning their semi-final, they were into the A final against Durham and four Cambridge crews. With an amazing effort, Katie Kearsey and Anna Kemsley managed to win the silver effort and Nottingham’s first medals of the regatta. In the very next race, Grace Johnson and Georgie Thorpe were in the A final of the championship 2-. The race was very tight for the whole course with the girls just missing out placing 6th with only 1 second separating them and the next two crews. The women’s championship 4x also had a good race securing the bronze ahead of Durham for the 2nd set of medals of the day. In the beginner squad, at their first ever regatta, the men’s 4+ and women’s 8+ had an exciting day with both boats securing 5th place. This is a huge step on from BUCS Head where they both placed 14th and therefore are very excited for the rest of the season. The last race of the day was the intermediate men’s 8+ in the D final. A similar line up to the last years Inter 8+, the crew raced well placing 2nd in their final and importantly to them, ahead of Exeter’s 2nd 8+ that beat them in 2021. A good step on for these guys heading into the summer.

Sunday was the senior men’s first major day. One of the most exciting moments in the regatta came in the repechage of the men’s championship 4-. With only 2 crews proceeding to the final, the Nottingham crew had a tough challenge ahead of them. With 500m to go, they were in 3rd place behind Newcastle and London. With a surge in speed, the crew inched back on Newcastle to claim the 2nd place by a foot. Moving into their final, the men put up a good race against crews from Brookes, Durham and Oxford placing 6th overall. A very good result for them! Next up, Olivia Bates racing in both championship 1x and championship Lwt1x on the same day. With exceptional rowing in both time trials, Liv qualified straight for the A final. In the lightweight event, Liv lead the pack from the start moving ahead of rival Imogen Grant from Cambridge to win gold. In the championship 1x, Liv held off Imogen again to win a silver just behind Royal Holloway. The final highlight of the day came from our Novice Squad in the Women’s Beginner 4+. A neat row in the time trial put them in a strong position in the semi-final where they moved ahead of Edinburgh in the first 1000m and then held a 2nd place through the rest of the race behind Surrey. Moving into the final, the women had a difficult start falling behind the pack but through a steady rhythm brought it back to 3rd in the middle of the race. With a fantastic sprint at the end, they clawed back lengths off 2nd just failing to get ahead by the line but still securing a Bronze at their first ever Regatta.

A quieter day on Monday but with 9 crews still racing, UoN supporters came in force. The Women’s Ch4- had a tough category and just missed out on their A final due to a hard draw in their repechage and pushed the opposition all the way to the line. The big event of the day was the men’s intermediate 4x’s with two of Nottingham’s three crews making the A final. The ‘A’ boat made a big move off the start leading the pack. With Edinburgh and Reading finding a higher midrace pace, the fight for bronze was between the two Nottingham crews and Bath. The ‘B’ crew had a late surge and just pushed ahead of Bath in the last 100m but couldn’t quite take the Nottingham ‘A’ crew leading to a 3rd place finish for the ‘A’ crew, just 0.6 seconds ahead of the ‘B’ crew. An exciting race for both crews and shows the depth of our squad moving into the rest of the season.

Overall, a hugely successful regatta for UoNBC, with 16 crews into A Finals, the depth and talent in our squad really shines through. The women’s side took 5th in Victor Ludorum and the club took 10th overall ahead of Surrey, Imperial College, Bristol and Exeter. Thank you to everyone who has come down to support his weekend and especially Lynn Turton, Lyn Winkworth, and Sinead Lodge for helping us organise everything as well as our amazing coaching team! We are looking forward to the rest of the season and the potential it holds.

Summary of Results