Summer Newsletter 2019

Jul 30

The summer term is the most exciting time of year for our athletes since it is the culmination of a winter’s worth of hard training. Again, this summer has been a successful one, winning thirteen medals at BUCS Regatta, both the double and quad making the finals of Henley Women’s Regatta, qualified two men’s quads for the Prince of Wales Cup at Henley Royal Regatta and to top that off, sending Chloe Knight to the U23 World Championships in the Women’s Lightweight double sculls in Sarasota, Florida.

Many Medals and the Victor Ludorum collected at Reading AM Regatta.

Summer Term 2019 Results:

BUCS Regatta: Gold in WC4x, Mint2x, Wint2x, WC2x. Silver in Wint4x, Wint1x, WCLw1x, Wint2x. Bronze in MBeg4x, MC1x, WBeg4x, MC2x, Minter4x. Also placing 4thoverall on the medal table, an incredible result as we are a sculling only university.

Metropolitan Regatta: Saturday - Op 4x (B) 3rd, Women’s 4x 2nd, Op 4x (A) 2nd. Sunday – W4x 1st, W1x 4th, Op 4x (A) 2nd.

Reading Amateur Regatta: Wins in the W1x A, W2x A, W1x C, W4x B, W4x A, M4x A and the Victor Ludorum.

Marlow Regatta: Tier 2 Final A 4x 4th, Tier 2 4x Final B 4th, Championship 4x Final A 3rdand Championship Final B 2nd.

Henley Women’s Regatta: Got through to heats: Asp1x (A and B), C1x. Got through to the final: C2x – missing out on taking the win by ½ a length and Asp4x also missing narrowly by ¾ of a length.

Henley Royal Regatta: Qualified two quads for the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup.

Women’s Championship 4x at BUCS Regatta 2019 - 1st

The Boy’s fourth quad medalling at Reading AM Regatta.

Men’s Championship 4x at BUCS Regatta 2019 - 4th.

Women’s Aspirational 4x at Henley Women’s - Finalists.

George Lawton 3rd in Championship Singles

Franky Bailey Tait - Lightweight Single - 2nd in the B final.

Henley Royal Regatta:

At Henley Royal Regatta we had two boats racing in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup. A great result considering the depth and range of competition this year. After a tough draw, our A and B boats were both knocked out on the Thursday. Our A boat performed particularly well, pushing the eventual finalists A.A.S.R Skoll & A.U.S.R. Ocra, Netherlands throughout the race. Our B boat also raced well, being drawn the semi-finalists: Schuylkill Navy H.P.C, USA. Some strong results overall from our men’s squad. Other notable performances came from Lucy Cruxton and Rob Johnston competing in The King’s Cup, unfortunately losing out to France on Day three.

Reading University A - George Lawton, Rory Harris, Luke Reiser and Sean O Mahoney

Reading University B - Ed Marshall, David Few, Joe Pitt and Alex Badcott

Under 23 World Championships:

RUBC are very proud to have sent Chloe Knight to her first U23 World Championships. After an intense three weeks training out in Sarasota, Florida with her partner Fiona Chestnutt from Newcastle Boat Club, the two placed 2nd in the B final in the Lightweight Double Sculls, an outstanding achievement - Congratulations.

Captains Reports:

Lucy Ryan – Women’s Captain 2018-19

The women’s squad at RUBC have had a phenomenal summer term, making this season one of the most successful seasons for the girls in recent years. Juggling both exams and training everyone stepped up, leading to fantastic results on the water and also in their degrees.

We came into BUCS regatta off the back of a very productive camp with high hopes for our small, but very strong girls squad. With excellent performances from every single member we returned with 3 golds (Ch4x, Ch2x, Int2x), 4 silver (Int4x, ChLwt1x, Int1x, Int2x) and 1 bronze (Beg4x), along with high placings in multiple finals. A highlight of the weekend was the doubles absolutely cleaning up, a demonstration of the versatility of the squad.

After BUCS, the focus shifted to Henley Women’s Regatta, using Met and Reading AM as prep. Met brought tricky conditions but an excellent win in Tier 2 4xs for the Aspirational quad of Emily May, Maria Norman, Kate Lyster and Franky Bailey Tait. Others raced well in smaller boats dealing well with a tricky cross wind.

Reading AM was the next event which the squad dominated, helping RUBC to win the overall Victor Ludorum. We picked up wins in the Ch1x (Lucy), Ch2x (Lucy, Kate/Lucy, Chloe), Ch4x (Emily, Maria, Kate, Franky/Emily, Chloe, Kate, Franky), Tier 3 1x (Rosie), Tier 2 4x (Rosie, Ava, Amina, Izzy).

With this success all in the bag, we went into HWR feeling confident we had done the best training and preparation we could have. A successful weekend all round for the girls, having two crews make their respective finals. The Champ 2x of Lucy and Chloe faced Leander Club’s Beth Bryan and Katherine Maitland. It was a close race all the way down the course, with Leander winning by only 1/2 a length. The aspirational 4x faced a GB Start composite in their final and despite leading off the start, the composite sneaked ahead, winning by only 3/4 length. Nevertheless, a great result for both crews, and a really exciting result given they’ll all be returning next year.

The last race of the season for all but one was Henley Royal Regatta Qualifiers. With only 4 days in this newly formed quad of Lucy, Emily, Kate and Sophie, we just missed out on qualifying in a very strong field.

Throughout the season, Chloe Knight has been in the GB trialling process as a U23 lightweight. She has been selected to race the LW2x at U23 worlds in Sarasota, Florida with partner Fiona Chestnutt from Newcastle. This is an outstanding achievement and we are all so proud of Chloe and what she has achieved, earning her first GB vest. We all wish them the best of luck at Worlds.

Finally, I’d like to thank Luke (president), Rory (Men’s captain), and all four coaches, Will, Charlie, Chris and Roddy for their work this season because none of this would be possible without the well-oiled machine that is RUBC. I’m very glad to be staying on for another year and wish Kate Lyster the best of luck as Women’s Captain 2019-20; I’m sure she will lead this team to even greater success!

Finally congratulations to Hettie, Marina, Luke, Rob and Harry who all graduate this year. On behalf of the Women’s squad we wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do and you’ll always be welcome back at RUBC!

Rory Harris - Men’s Captain 2018-19

Having had a very successful year so far, the boys squad came into the summer and final term of the year with a quiet confidence. A successful training camp in Banyoles meant the boys squad was prepared for an ever-competitive BUCS Regatta. Being one of the big targets through the winter months, and even with a squad hit by illness and injury the boys had prepared thoroughly and felt ready to take BUCS regatta on. Some hard-fought racing and tight margins gave us some good results in the circumstance. We came back with a 4th in Ch4x, a bronze in Ch2x, a gold in Int2x, a bronze in Int 4x and a bronze in Ch1x. A special mention to George Lawton, who only deciding to do the single a few days before the event jumped in and raced very well to get a bronze medal in a tough Champ singles event. These results left us hungry to come back for more.

Moving on from BUCS we looked onto Henley Royal Regatta. Having performed well throughout the squad at Met and Marlow all four of our quads were ready for Henley qualifiers. Our top quad managed to be prequalified, so it just left three quads to try and qualify. With a number of overseas crews this year it was a very tough progression. Our second quad had a great row and qualified well. Unfortunately, our third and fourth quads just missed out, but a special mention to those boys who are mostly freshers whom held themselves respectably and showed off RUBC in a very good light and what potential there is in this squad.

On the following Thursday our second quad drew a strong Navy Schuylkill crew and even with a courageous effort were knocked out. The top quad for the second-year running drew Skoll, a Dutch quad who last year won the event. With two returners for them it was going to be another tough race for us. Unfortunately, they ended up being too strong and once again they made the final for the second year running. It seems with what can be the best event on the rowing calendar it can also be the most cruel. This year has been tough for some, with illness, injury and somewhat unlucky circumstances. Even with all this the Men’s squad has showed an enormous amount of resilience and determination to make the most out of difficult situations. A huge mention must go to Luke Reiser who has done a sterling job as President, Lucy Ryan as Women’s Captain, leading the girls to one of the most successful seasons at RUBC for the women and of course the coaches. Without whom RUBC wouldn’t be the same. As Captain I am hugely proud of everything the boys have achieved this year both individually and as a team and I am thoroughly looking forward to next year with very few leavers and an even more determined squad. We start in Sweden for EUSA 2019 in September.

European University Games:

The European Universities Games is a biannual multi-sport event organised by the European University Sports Association (EUSA) and this year it will be held in Jonkoping, Sweden. RUBC are sending 12 athletes, which will race in 4 boats: W4x, M4x, W2x and M2x. We are hoping to match or beat last year’s incredible performance of two golds, three silvers and one bronze.

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