This year a crew from CUWBC qualified for the Remenham Challenge Cup for the first time ever. With half of the available 8 slots already given away to pre-qualified crews and several other top British clubs vying for the chance to compete, it was clear that Cambridge had to put in a fast performance in the qualifying races. After qualifying in fine style the crew settled down to spend some time in Henley in order to prepare for the real races the following week.
There was strong competition in the form of the three international crews entered, the Dutch, the Americans and the British. The entry restriction meant that it was no surprise when we learned that we were up against one of these crews in the first round – Hollandia Roeiclub, Holland.
The race itself was delayed by two hours since the Dutch had damaged their boat during the warm-up. When the race eventually got underway we started strongly, striding out to 38. We were still level coming off the island and maintaining contact for the first third of the race. As the race progressed their superior weight, height and experience became clear as they began to move away from us, maintaining a high rating. We also had difficulties in finding and maintaining a rhythm during the second half of the race, undoubtedly caused partly by the wash created from the surrounding boats and the prevailing head wind. The Dutch crew went on to win their
semi-final but were eventually beaten by Princeton Training Center (USA) in the final on Sunday.
Now that qualification for this prestigious event has been proved entirely possible, CUW will be looking to maintain and build on this for next year.
Henley Crew:
- C: Rebecca Dowbiggin
- S: Guen Bradbury
- 7: Elseljin Kingma
- 6: Lucy Wordley (President)
- 5: Jen Reid
- 4: Linda Dennis
- 3: Jen Hawton
- 2: Gillian McFarland
- B: Hannah Bill