After the disappointment of Henley Royal, a highly successful year had come to a close for some members of the lightweight boat. However, the four that had come so close to victory at BUCS raced at the National Championships aiming to go one better. Despite few practice sessions, the crew were in an optimistic mood on the way to Nottingham.
After weighing in at a near perfect average of 69.975kg, the heat didn’t go as planned with the crew briefly flirting with first place before Durham Uni rowed through to win by slightly under half a second, and Molesey over eight seconds back. This meant that Cambridge avoided the repechage, and were hopeful that a more polished performance in the final would take them clear of Durham and the other finalists, who had posted similar times. However this was not to be, as Glasgow RC stormed off the start, leaving London RC, Durham Uni and Cambridge to battle it out in their wake. Steering difficulties cost them dearly, and as Cambridge appeared to be rowing through to snatch second they clipped a buoy, following London RC and Durham over the line in fourth. A disappointing result, but perhaps unsurprising given the lack of training for the event.