And, breathe.
Three days later, it’s time to reflect on this year’s BUCS Regatta. I’m not sure about blood, but there was certainly sweat and tears as crews from up and down the country vied for the top spots. It was fantastic to see such wide representation from universities throughout the UK, and while some of the stories which unfolded seemed rather familiar, looking across the events and particularly down through the intermediate categories, some lesser known clubs did themselves proud to pick up some silverware.
The overall and men’s Victor Ludorum was awarded to Oxford Brookes University, after some hugely impressive performances over the regatta. Not only did they repeat their 1-2 in Men’s Championship Eights, but they did it with both of their crews breaking the course record and setting a new BUCS record of 5.31.35. They coupled this with a 1-2 in Men’s Championship Singles, with Jamie Copus taking victory with a monumental sprint in the last 100m to overtake teammate Quentin Antongelli who finished in second place. Wins in the Women’s Championship Eight, Men’s Championship Coxed and Coxless Fours, Women’s Championship Single and a variety of other events consolidated Brookes’ dominance in the regatta.
We’re never sure who it is that turns up from Oxford and Cambridge, but this year, perhaps encouraged by the later date, they both brought some of their big guns. Oxford’s Augustin Wambersie and Martin Barakso took the win in the Men’s Championship Pairs by ten seconds over the next crew from Imperial. Oxford’s lightweights put in some fantastic performances but it is Cambridge’s lightweights who stole the show. Led by the twins Catherine and Gemma King, Cambridge took first, second and third in the Women’s Championship Lightweight Pairs, pushing Bath down into fourth. Medal winning performances across the other lightweight events, a silver medal from Abigail Parker in the Women’s Championship Single, bronze in the Women’s Championship Pair and a smattering of other results led to Cambridge winning the women’s Victor Ludorum.
Looking past the top programmes and their success in the championship events, Surrey University had a great regatta, winning medals in both the Men’s Intermediate Eight, Coxed Four and Pair, beating the likes of Newcastle and Edinburgh in those races. They also took medals in several lightweight events rounding out what was (probably) their best ever BUCS.
Although a bit thin on the ground at senior level this year, Edinburgh’s beginner women swept the field, winning gold in every category on offer. On the Friday they took all six spots in the A final of the Women’s Beginner Singles, obviously then also taking all the medals in this event. Shortly after the excitement of this race, all six of those athletes jumped into the eight where they won by 37 seconds in what would have been the most convincing win of the regatta had they not beaten it the following day. This eight broke down into a four and quad for the final day with the four winning by a staggering 55 seconds and the quad winning by a relatively meagre 15 seconds.
That’s just a snippet of the results and the drama from BUCS Regatta 2021, if you missed it refer to the BUCS website for the results and the BUCS YouTube to watch back the races from the livestream. A massive thanks to James Lee and his team for putting on the regatta this year against the odds, I’m sure all the athletes who competed can join me in saying that it was without a doubt the highlight of their return to rowing so far this season.
And that’s a wrap, until next year, BUCS, over and out.
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