The competition this year for the Women’s Lightweight Double is stronger than ever with many athletes who medalled in the U23 Lightweight World Rowing Indoor Championship events over lockdown returning to the water.
Bath
The first crew to watch is Bath. Stroked by Imogen Bantick, winner of the WRIC gold medal for the 2km U23 Lightweight Women’s race, Bath appears as strong contenders for this year’s race. Although the age-old rhetoric of ‘ergs don’t float’ rings forever true, athletes in their peak fitness and winning Championship medals certainly do have a greater chance of success when it comes to racing. Bantick’s gritty determinism that earned her gold on the erg, paired with Bath’s prestigious sculling programmes hints at high quality racing that could potentially lead to more medals.
Surrey
Whilst Bath appears strong, so does Surrey University. Sascha Kennedy and twin sister Leonie also both featured in WRIC, picking up fifth place and second place respectively after an already successful season that saw Sascha win the Weybridge Silver Sculls. As well as demonstrating impressive times on the erg, the twins also made their presence felt at Metropolitan Regatta 2021. Competing in the Women’s Double, they came second in the B final, making them the second fastest lightweight crew that competed after Reading. The threat that this crew poses to the rest of the competition is more than evident, and I can’t wait to see how the race pans out.
Reading & Hartpury
The competitive entries don’t stop there. In addition to Surrey and Bath, Reading and Hartpury should also be judged as serious contenders in the race. Reading University B boat placed third in the Women’s Double B final at Met Regatta, proving that they are definitely a threat in this competition. Although there was roughly a five second gap between Surrey and Reading in the finals, there’s the potential that the sheer adrenaline of racing at Nottingham will be enough to close that gap.
I think that the really tight racing, and probably some of the most exciting racing, will be between Reading and Hartpury. Hartpury’s double, stroked by De Winnaar, also attended Met Regatta and raced alongside Surrey and Reading in the Women’s Double. Hartpury ended up coming less than a second behind Reading, placing fourth in the B final. I wonder whether the small difference they lost to Reading by at Met, combined with the chance to now beat them, will fuel Hartpury to deliver a fiery performance with some aggressive racing.
The crews entered in the Women’s Lightweight Double this year at BUCS Regatta really epitomise the sheer excitement that comes from racing. I know that this will be a race that is tight until the very end, with every single crew ready to lay it all down so that they can medal or beat crews that they have been previously beaten by, guaranteeing to make it an amazing race to watch.
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