A reshuffle of the BUCS events has put the men’s lightweight quad on the opening day of racing at this year’s regatta. The debate surrounding the future of lightweight rowing is well documented, and this year’s regatta sees six boats from well established programmes seeking to take top spot. With all competitors having to race at a maximum of 72.5kg, it is all about who can maximise what physicality they have, and often results in some of the closest racing.
Nottingham
A club with a strong pedigree in lightweight sculling, Nottingham will be one of the favourites for gold on their home water. The fact they have no coxless four racing suggests that all their lightweight eggs are in this basket. Nottingham have kept cards close to their chest since the return to the water, not having raced at Met or Marlow, but, as they won the quad at BUCS Head back in 2020, it is safe to say this will be a crew with their eyes on gold.
Oxford
As one of the few Oxford winners from this year’s Boat Race series, this entry from Oxford will certainly be strong. This crew is listed under the newly anointed President Matthew Hudson and raced at Marlow Regatta with two others from the victorious Blue Boat. This crew raced well to the C final, especially as these guys will be very close to race weight and were up against much heavier rowers. As such this will be a crew looking to get amongst the medal scrap on Thursday.
Newcastle
A stalwart of the lightweight rowing picture at university level, Newcastle once again has decent depth amongst their lightweight squad this year. This crew is led by the experienced Stan Cannons, and features two who are also a part of the Newcastle second openweight eight. This bodes well in terms of talent within the boat but has limited their time together as a combination. They will hope to overcome this and once again, will have eyes for the podium, to follow in the footsteps of previous Newcastle lightweight quads.
Reading
A club whose pedigree in sculling and consequent track record in quads events needs no introduction, Reading University will look to uphold that tradition in this lightweight category. Reading have been proactive in terms of arranging fixtures with the likes of Windsor Boys on their home stretch. They also had a run out at both Marlow and Met Regattas with four boats in the A final on the Saturday of the Met in Open Quads with the remainder placing well in the B final. Without crew lists it is hard to know the exact speed of this crew, but clearly Reading are a club in a strong place.
Edinburgh & Strathclyde
The final two entries both come from north of the border and will be familiar with one another. They come in the form of Edinburgh University and Strathclyde University. In a situation similar to Newcastle, the stoke seat of the Edinburgh boat, Lukas Nielsen was in the bows of their Championship Eight at Marlow, which shows the calibre of athletes in the crew, but could hint at a lack of time as a combination.
The Strathclyde crew are a somewhat unknown proposition but given the high standard of crews that come out of Scotland, it would be foolhardy to write them off.
This should be a fiercely contested event with a high standard of racing amongst the boats, and should be a wonderful advert as to the high standard and competitive nature that still is apparent within university lightweight rowing.
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